 ronnie walter cunningham (born march 16, 1932), better known as walt cunningham, is a retired american astronaut. in 1968, he was the lunar module pilot on the apollo 7 mission. he was nasa's third civilian astronaut (after neil armstrong and elliot see), and has also been a fighter pilot, physicist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author of the all-american boys, lecturer, and host of the radio show lift-off to logic. walter cunningham attended ucla. ==biography== ===early life, education and military career=== walter cunningham was born in creston, iowa on march 16, 1932. he graduated from venice high school in venice, california, where a building has since been named for him. after high school, cunningham joined the u.s. navy in 1951, and began flight training in 1952. he served on active duty as a fighter pilot with the u.s. marine corps from 1953 until 1956. from 1956 to 1975 he served in the marine corps reserve program, ultimately retiring at the rank of colonel. cunningham received his bachelor of arts degree in 1960 and his master of arts degree in 1961, both in physics, from the university of california at los angeles. he then worked as a scientist for the rand corporation while pursuing a doctorate. thumb|left|cunningham during the apollo 7 mission. ===nasa experience=== in october 1963, cunningham was one of the third group of astronauts selected by nasa. on october 11, 1968, he occupied the lunar module pilot seat for the eleven-day flight of apollo 7. although the flight carried no lunar module, cunningham was kept busy with the myriad system tests aboard this first launch of a manned apollo mission. because schirra, cunningham, and eisele ran afoul of nasa management during the flight, none of them were assigned to future missions. he then worked in a management role for skylab and left nasa in 1971. ===post-nasa experience=== in 1974, cunningham graduated from harvard business school's advanced management program and lat
1932_births 1968_in_spaceflight American_astronauts Harvard_Business_School_alumni Living_people NASA_civilian_astronauts People_from_Creston,_Iowa Recipients_of_the_NASA_Distinguished_Service_Medal Recipients_of_the_NASA_Exceptional_Service_Medal United_States_Astronaut_Hall_of_Fame_inductees University_of_California,_Los_Angeles_alumni