NASA has announced the passing of Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in the Apollo program. Cunningham, a retired NASA astronaut and pilot of the Apollo 7 mission, died at the age of 90 on Tuesday morning.
The Apollo 7 mission was an 11-day spaceflight that beamed live television broadcasts as they orbited Earth, paving the way for the moon landing less than a year later. Cunningham was one of the earliest members of NASA’s human spaceflight program as a member of its third astronaut class, joining the space agency in 1963. He was the lunar module pilot on the space flight, crewed with Navy Capt. Walter M. Schirra and Donn F. Eisele, an Air Force major.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement that Cunningham was a “true American hero” and that his “legacy will live on in the annals of history.” He added that Cunningham’s “service to our nation and his example of courage and dedication to exploration will never be forgotten.”
Cunningham’s wife, Dot Cunningham, said in a statement that he died Tuesday but did not say where or provide a cause of death. She expressed her immense pride in the life that he lived and her deep gratitude for the man that he was.
Walter Cunningham was a patriot, an explorer, pilot, and astronaut who made history as part of the first successful crewed space mission in the Apollo program. His legacy will live on in the annals of history and his service to our nation will never be forgotten.
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