Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra , Jr . ( March 12 , 1923 – May 3 , 2007 ) was an American test pilot , United States Navy officer , and one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury , America ' s first effort to put humans in space . He is the only person to fly in all of America ' s first three space programs ( Mercury , Gemini and Apollo ) . He logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space . Schirra was the fifth American and the ninth human to ride a rocket into space . He was the first person to go into space three times . Biography . Schirra was born in Hackensack , New Jersey , to an aviation family of Sardinian origin . Schirra ' s father , Walter M . Schirra , Sr . , who was born in Philadelphia , went to Canada during World War I and earned his pilot rating . He later became a barnstormer . Schirra ' s mother , Florence Leach Schirra , went along on her husband ' s barnstorming tours and performed wing walking stunts . By the time he was 15 , Wally was flying his father ' s airplane . Schirra was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of First Class in Troop 36 in Oradell , New Jersey . Schirra graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood , New Jersey in 1940 and attended the Newark College of Engineering , where he was a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity , Alpha Mu Chapter . He was later appointed to the United States Naval Academy and received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering . He graduated in 1945 . He married the former Josephine Fraser of Seattle , Washington on February 23 , 1946 ; she was the step - daughter of Admiral James L . Holloway , Jr . . They had two children : Walter M . Schirra , III , born June 23 , 1950 and Suzanne , born September 29 , 1957 . Navy career . He attended the United States Naval Academy from 1942 and graduated in 1945 . He was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy , serving the final months of World War II aboard the large armored battle cruiser USS " Alaska " . After the war ended , he trained as a pilot at Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida and joined a carrier fighter squadron . He was the second Naval Aviator to log 1 , 000 hours in jet aircraft . Upon the outbreak of the Korean War , Schirra was dispatched to South Korea as an exchange pilot on loan to the U . S . Air Force . He served as a flight leader with the 136th Fighter Bomber Wing , and then as operations officer with the 154th Fighter - Bomber Squadron . He flew 90 combat missions between 1951 and 1952 , mostly in F - 84 s . Schirra was credited with downing one MiG - 15 and damaging two others . Schirra received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster for his service in Korea . After his tour in Korea , Schirra served as a test pilot . He attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River , Maryland , graduating in 1958 . At China Lake Naval Ordnance Test Station ( NOTS ) he tested weapons systems such as the Sidewinder missile and the F7U - 3 Cutlass jet fighter . During one flight , Schirra fired a Sidewinder missile and the missile " doubled back " and started to chase his jet . Schirra , through skillful flying , avoided the Sidewinder . After spending time as a flight instructor and carrier based aviator , he later returned to his test pilot duties and helped evaluate the F - 4 fighter for Naval service . In the image at left , Schirra is shown taking delivery of a F3H Demon from McDonnell Aircraft Design Chief , Dave Lewis . They remained good friends , later working together on the McDonnell Mercury 7 program . NASA career . Mercury . On April 2 , 1959 , Schirra was chosen as one of the original seven American astronauts . He entered Project Mercury and was assigned the specialty area involving life support systems . On October 3 , 1962 , Schirra became the fifth American in space , piloting the Mercury - Atlas 8 " ( Sigma 7 ) " on a six - orbit mission lasting 9 hours , 13 minutes , and 11 seconds . The capsule attained a velocity of and an altitude of , and landed within of the main Pacific Ocean recovery ship . Gemini . On December 15 , 1965 , Schirra flew into space a second time in " Gemini 6A " with Tom Stafford . During the first launch attempt , the booster rocket unexpectedly shut down seconds after ignition and did not launch . Although mission rules called for the crew to eject from the spacecraft in that situation , Schirra used his pilot ' s judgement and did not eject , as he had not detected any upwards motion . This turned out to be the correct call for their personal safety . The flight launched successfully three days later , conducting the first manned space rendezvous with astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell , Jr . in " Gemini 7 " . The two vehicles , however , were not capable of actually docking . " Gemini 6 " landed in the Atlantic Ocean the next day , while " Gemini 7 " continued on to a record - setting 14 - day mission . While on the Gemini mission , Schirra attracted notoriety for playing " Jingle Bells " on a four - hole Hohner harmonica he had smuggled on board , and a " Wally Schirra " commemorative model was later produced . Apollo . In late 1966 , Schirra was assigned to command a three - man Apollo crew with Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham to make the second manned flight test of the Apollo Command / Service Module some time in 1967 , after the first such flight to be made by Gus Grissom , Edward White and Roger Chaffee . But soon after , this second test flight was considered unnecessary , and Schirra ' s crew was reassigned as Grissom ' s backup . But in January 1967 , Grissom and his crew were killed in a cabin fire during a ground test of Apollo 1 . Schirra ' s crew was then assigned to the first manned flight , Apollo 7 , in the fall of 1968 , after safety improvements were made to the Command Module . Schirra , like most of the Mercury and Gemini astronauts , had come to gain a sense of security from the Pad Leader responsible for the spacecraft ' s launch readiness , an extremely diligent , uncompromising McDonnell Aircraft employee named Guenter Wendt . But since the Apollo contractor was North American Aviation , Wendt was no longer pad leader . After the Apollo 1 accident , Schirra felt so strongly he wanted none other than Wendt as pad leader for his Apollo flight , that he pulled strings with his boss Deke Slayton and North American ' s launch operations manager Bastian " Buzz " Hello to hire Wendt so he could be Apollo 7 pad leader . Wendt remained pad leader for the remainder of the Apollo and Skylab programs , and stayed on with NASA into the Space Shuttle program before retiring . Apollo 7 was launched on October 11 , 1968 , making Schirra the first person to fly in space three times . Schirra , Eisele and Cunningham spent eleven days in Earth orbit , performed space rendezvous exercises with the upper stage of the Saturn 1 - B launch vehicle that sent them into space , and provided the first live television pictures publicly broadcast from inside a manned spacecraft , for which Schirra received an Emmy award . ( An experimental TV transmission had been made during Gordon Cooper ' s Mercury flight , which was not broadcast to the public . The Soviet Union may have made television transmissions from their spacecraft , but in keeping with their policy of secrecy and not announcing flights until after the fact , these would not have been broadcast live either . ) During the " Apollo 7 " mission , Schirra caught what was perhaps the most famous cold in NASA history . He took Actifed to relieve his symptoms upon the advice of the flight surgeon . Schirra soon passed the cold to Eisele , and the crew became known for their grumpy exchanges with Houston . Interaction with ground controllers became so strained that the crew was taken out of rotation for future missions , and none of the three flew for NASA again . Schirra had made the decision to retire before launch , and left the NASA Astronaut Corps after the mission . Years later , he became a spokesman for Actifed and would appear in television commercials advertising the product . During later Apollo missions he served as a news consultant , often being interviewed by Walter Cronkite on CBS News . He co - anchored the first manned landing on the Moon with Cronkite and Arthur C . Clarke , and continued to co - anchor all the remaining Apollo Moon landing missions , including the ill - fated Apollo 13 . Schirra ' s logbooks show a total of 4 , 577 hours flight time ( including 295 in space ) and 267 carrier landings . In 2008 , NASA posthumously awarded Schirra the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his Apollo 7 mission . Writing career . In 1988 ( republished in 1999 ) Wally Schirra , with Richard N . Billings , released his first autobiography " Schirra ' s Space " . In 1995 Schirra co - authored the book " Wildcats to Tomcats : The Tailhook Navy " with fellow Navy Captains Richard L . ( Zeke ) Cormier , and Phil Wood , with Barrett Tillman as the writer . It has a section by each of these Naval Aviators that cover five decades of flight experiences , including combat tours in World War II , Korea & Vietnam . In 2005 Schirra co - authored the book " The Real Space Cowboys " with Ed Buckbee . The book is an account of the ' Mercury Seven ' astronauts . It follows them through the process of selection for the program , their entire careers , and into retirement . Wernher von Braun , NASA , Space Camp , and the U . S . Space and Rocket Center are given special attention . Schirra was also a major contributor to the 2007 book , " In the Shadow of the Moon " , which captured his final published thoughts on his life and career . Death . Schirra died on May 3 , 2007 of a heart attack due to malignant mesothelioma at Scripps Green Hospital ( currently The Heart Center at Scripps ) in La Jolla , California . A memorial service for Schirra was held on May 22 at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in California . The ceremony concluded with a three - volley salute and a flyover by three F / A - 18 s . Schirra was cremated and his ashes were committed to the sea on February 11 , 2008 . The burial - at - sea ceremony was held aboard the Nimitz - class aircraft carrier and his ashes were released by Cmdr . Lee Axtell , command chaplain aboard . Awards and legacy . He received : The USNS " Wally Schirra " , a " Lewis and Clark " class dry cargo ship named for Schirra , was christened and launched March 8 , 2009 . In 2010 Schirra was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame . A street and a small park are named after Schirra in Oradell , New Jersey and Upper Dublin , Pennsylvania . An elementary school in Old Bridge , NJ , is named after Wally Schirra . In media . Wally Schirra was portrayed by Lance Henriksen in the film " The Right Stuff " and by Mark Harmon in the miniseries " From the Earth to the Moon " . Schirra was mentioned in the second episode of " WKRP in Cincinnati " . The " Pilot Part 2 " episode from 9 / 25 / 1978 , featured the Station Manager , Arthur Carlson saying that his maid believed Wally Schirra was controlling her mind and she believed she had to store up foods .