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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 4, 2007 - 09:51am PT
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I was saddened to read about him this morning.
Astronaut Walter Schirra Dies at 84
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 4, 2007
Filed at 7:32 a.m. ET
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Walter M. ''Wally'' Schirra Jr., who as one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts combined the Right Stuff -- textbook-perfect flying ability and steely nerves -- with a pronounced rebellious streak, died Thursday at 84.
He was the only astronaut to fly in all three of NASA's original manned spaceflight programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Although he never walked on the moon, Schirra laid some of the groundwork that made the lunar landings possible and won the space race for the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obit-Schirra.html
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Those guys were studs.
It as a real event, sitting around the black and white Zenith and watching those Mercury launches. We're we glued to the screen.
RIP to Wally Schirra, a life really lived.
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UncleDoug
Social climber
N. lake Tahoe
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Had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with him several times while growing up in San Diego.
His very presence was inspirational.
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Carolyn C
Trad climber
nowhere really
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Those guys were amazing - incredible dudes. Schirra was known to be a non-stop practical joker.
From "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe: "The Turtle Club was one of Wally's gotcha games. If one good buddy who played the turtle game met another good buddy in public -- preferably in the company of very proper folk -- and challenged him with the question "Are you a turtle?" that good buddy had to answer, "You bet your sweet a** I am," in a loud voice or else treat everybody else to a round of drinks."
On his Mercury flight (Sigma 7), only a minute or so into the flight Deke Slayton, capcom for the flight, asked Schirra, over the public communications channel, "Are you a turtle today?"
In that era, public profanity was absolutely forbidden for astronauts. Knowing he had to answer or be required to buy everyone drinks, but also knowing he couldn't say "a" over the public comm line, he switched quickly to the tape recorder which was not on the public open circuit, but would be dumped, and said "You bet your sweet a I am."
That was an amazing time in our history; those guys rode the rocket when no one knew if they would survive it or not.
RIP Wally.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Very sad, but such is life. I was a boy in the 1960s, and still have all sorts of space program junk - newspaper clippings, pictures, and so on. A memorable time.
So now only two of the Mercury 7 are left - John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. Al Shepherd, Gus Grissom, Deke Slayton, Gordon Cooper and Wally Schirra have gone.
As Schirra might have asked, "Are you a turtle?".
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
Nowhere
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"From "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe: "The Turtle Club was one of Wally's gotcha games. If one good buddy who played the turtle game met another good buddy in public -- preferably in the company of very proper folk -- and challenged him with the question "Are you a turtle?" that good buddy had to answer, "You bet your sweet a** I am," in a loud voice or else treat everybody else to a round of drinks."
One of the best books I've read.
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-Wolfe/dp/0553381350
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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First thing I read when I got to work this morning.
No time to post then.
Thanks to all of them!
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L
climber
NoName City and It Don't Look Pretty
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Yep, an unbelievably courageous man--may his memory life on.
Can you imagine getting stuffed in a metal box the size of a small elevator, having to pack all your own oxygen AND port-a-potty containers with you, and then basically riding a controlled explosion to that tiny orb of myth and mystery so terrifyingly far away? Unbelievably courageous.
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