Walt CUNNINGHAM |
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PROFILE |
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Full Name: |
Ronnie Walter 'Walt' CUNNINGHAM. |
Rank: |
Colonel, US Marine Corps (USMC) Reserve (Deceased). |
Born: |
16 March 1932, in Creston, Iowa, USA (American). |
Died: |
3 January 2023, aged 90, in Houston, Texas, from complications as a result of a fall. |
Education: |
1950: Graduated from Venice High School, Venice, California.
1960: BA degree in Physics, University of California, Losa Angeles (UCLA).
1961: MA degree in Physics from UCLA; completed doctorate work in Physics, UCLA, while at Rand Corporation.
1974: Advanced Management Program, Harvard Graduate School of Business. |
Career Highlights: |
1950-51: After graduating from high school, he attended Santa Monica College for one year.
30 Jan 1951 - Jul 1952: Enlisted in the US Navy withouit the two-year college attendance required for pilot training; served as an enlisted rating with duty at the Naval Air Tactical Training Command, Naval Air Stations (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida and Memphis, Tennessee; having passed an equivalency test at Pensacola, Florida, he was accepted for pilot training; graduated 2nd in his class of 56 and 'coasted' through the rest of the pre-flight course.
Jul 1952 - Dec 1953: Naval Aviation Cadet USN Reserve (USNR); completed primary and advanced flight training at Pensacola and Corpus Christi; (16 Dec 1953) graduated flight school and designated Naval Aviator; (Dec) USMS Reservist Second Lieutenant.
Dec 1953 - Mar 1954: Assigned to active duty and completed instruction at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Kingsville, Texas.
Mar-Nov 1954: Pilot with Marine Night Fighter Squadron 542 (VMF-N-542) at Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California; (Sep-Nov) brief assignment as a replacement trainee, USMC.
Nov 1954 - Jul 1956: Served with VMR-N-513 1st Marine Air Wing, at first in Japan and then from Mar 1956 back in the USA; (Mar 1955) First Lieutenant USMCR.
Jul-Aug 1956: Reassigned to VMF-AW-542, an all-weather squadron within the 3rd Marine Wing, based at El Toro, California; initially served as an Assistant Airfield Operations Officer, Station and Engineering Squadron, until detachment from active USMC duty.
Aug 1956 - 1975: Continued service in the USMC Reserve (Aug 1956-Dec 1963) reservist with VMF-241 and VMF-134, MARTD, NAS Los Alamedas, California; (Jul 1958) Captain, USMCR; after joining NASA he served with VMF-112, VMF-111 and other units in the Houston and Dallas regions of Texas.
1956-61: Student at UCLA; (Jan 1960) awarded his BA degree in Physics; (Jun 1961) awarded his MA degree in physics.
1960-64: Research Scientist, Rand Corporation, working on classified defence studies and problems of Earth's magnetosphere. his research (towards a PhD) in the latter would lead to an experiment involving the problems of developing and testing a search coil magnetometer that was launched on the first NASA Orbiting Geophysical Satellite. |
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NASA ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS |
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1963: |
(18 Oct) Selected as a Pilot Astronaut for NASA Group 3 ("The Fourteen"). |
1964: |
(Jan) Reported to NASA Manned Spaceflight Center (MSC), Houston, Texas; basic training; (Jul) assigned to the Astronaut Office (Code CB) Operations and Training Branch (under Neil Armstrong); CB technical assignments in electrical and sequential systems and in uncrewed flight experiments; (24-29 Aug) performed EMU mobility tests in prototype Apollo EVA suit on the McKenzie lava fields, Bend, Oregon. |
1965: |
Basic training; (Feb) suffered a compound fracture of the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae on the trampoline in the new astronauts' gym at MSC; wore a neck brace for the next four months while completing restricted duties; (16 Feb) reassigned to the Apollo Branch Office (headed by Dick Gordon) with the same technical speciality; Gemini support assignments; (Jun) Capcom Gemini 4; he was the last astronaut assigned to the Kauai tracking station in Hawaii, to evaluate the station without future astronaut assistance; (Jun) Major USMCR. |
1966: |
(Mar) Blockhouse Capcom, Cape Kennedy, for Gemini 8; (29 Sep) named as Pilot (LMP) Apollo 2; Apollo mission training; (17 Nov) Apollo 2 cancelled as unnecessary repeat of Apollo 1; (22 Dec) reassigned (with Schirra and Eisele) as BUp Pilot Apollo 1; Apollo mission training. |
1967: |
Apollo mission training; (27 Jan) supported Apollo 1 launch pad simulations at Cape Kennedy; returned to MSC before the pad fire that claimed the lives of the prime crew; (30 Jan) assigned to the Emergency Provisions Review Panel, Apollo 204 Review Board (for three weeks); (4 Feb) assigned as an observer in the Advisory Group of the Apollo 204 Review Board; (9 May) named as LMP (without an LM assigned) for Apollo 7; Apollo mission training. |
1968: |
Apollo mission training; (11-22 Oct) flew as Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Apollo 7 (10 days 20 hrs 9 min), first crewed Apollo mission (Earth orbit); ( ) assigned as Chief of Apollo Applications Program (AAP) Branch, CB; AAP development training. |
1969: |
AAP development training, hoping to command the first mission (which became Skylab 2) of 28 days. |
1970: |
AAP (Skylab) development training; (Mar Lieutenant Colonel USMCR; (Aug) replaced as Skylab Branch Chief by Pete Conrad; became BUp Commander (CDR) Skylab 2, possibly to command the third and last mission (Skylab 4); Skylab assignments. |
1971: |
Skylab assignments; (Mar) indicated his desire to leave NASA that summer; (1 Aug) resigned from NASA; (20 Sep) Colonel USMCR. |
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POST-ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS |
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1971-75: |
Continued assignments in USMC Reserves until retirement in 1975 with the rank of Colonel. |
1971-74: |
Senior Vice President, Operations, Century Development Corp. |
1974-76: |
President, Hydrotech Development Corp. |
1976-79: |
Senior Vice President and Director, 3D International. |
1979-86: |
Founder, The Capital Group. |
1986-88: |
Founder/Manager/General Partner, The Genesis Fund. |
1998-2023: |
Consultant, lecturer and radio talk show host; Chairman, Texas Aerospace Commission; his biography The All-American Boys was published in 1977 and updated to a second edition in 2003; (2007) contributor and foreword writer for space history book In the Shadow of the Moon; (2018) joined the Back to Space organisation as Astronaut Consultant. |
3 Jan 2023: |
Died in Houston, Texas at the age of 90, from complications resulting from a fall. |
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Walt CUNNINGHAM Space Flight Missions |
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Mission |
Vehicle |
Position |
Dates DD/MM/YYYY |
Duration DD:HH:MM:SS |
Orbits |
EVAs |
Apollo 7 |
Saturn 1B |
Lunar Module Pilot |
11/10/1968-22/10/1968 |
10:20:09:03 |
163 |
0 |
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Missions Flown: |
1 |
Total Flight Time: |
10:20:09:03 |
163 |
0 |
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