Damn. One of the original Mercury 7 astronauts just died.

[Squatch]

Walter Schirra, one of the seven original Mercury astronauts, died today in California, NASA confirms.

http://www.cnn.com

[TwilightGardener]

1. Godspeed, Wally!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. "Astronaut-pilots."

(from The Right Stuff)

[wildhorses]

2. onward and upward

:patriot:

[wakeme2008]

4. K&R for Wally :( nt

[jobycom]

5. Once again into the unknown, Walter. RIP. nt

[AllegroRondo]

6. How many are left?

[DinahMoeHum]

7. John Glenn and Scott Carpenter are the only ones left.

Glenn was on the 3rd flight, Carpenter on the 4th.

:patriot:

[PCIntern]

8. i remember the school assemblies with TV's

tuned to the networks watching these guys go up. It was a very big deal and was breathtaking even in black and white.

Later, during the Gemini missions, Gulf Oil had a terrific 2 minute ad on the advent of the Apollo missions and the hugeness and intricacy of the technologies. Best ad I've ever seen for anything.

[rasputin1952]

13. I remeber that as well...B&W TV on a rolling stand to watch the

launches!

It was truly amazing....and then the Carrier P/U's by chopper nad taken to the deck of the Carrier; it was awe inspiring!

Remeber the little tiny windows the Gemini guys had...talk about claustrophbia...:scared:

There were times they'd sit/lie there for hours awaiting take-off...atop a huge bomb, waiting, just waiting...eek!

Good Bye Wally...you were an inspiration and a pioneer...RIP...O8)

[Bake]

9. Talk about the RIGHT STUFF!

Those guys were amazing. Inspiring. Maybe even bat-shit crazy, to climb into a tin can on top of a bomb!

Godspeed, sir.

Bake

[libnnc]

10. And our 12 year old local news model

mispronounced his name. x(

RIP :patriot:

[Tyler Durden]

11. And so, the giants of our youth pass on.

Gordo Cooper died in 2004. The last man to go into space alone.

He and Schirra were my favorites.

[Squatch]

14. Not true anymore.

On June 21, 2004, Mike Melvill piloted Spaceship One to space in pursuit of the Ansari X-Prize.

[jmg257]

12. Some GREAT men!

My son did a report on Glenn last year (I was already into the whole space thing at the time), and he had one hell of a biography! I assume Schirra et. al. had similiar histories.

Incredible ballsy bastards they were.

[newyawker99]

15. R.I.P Wally.

:-(

[Midlodemocrat]

16. Damn. RIP, sir.

:patriot: