Walter Cunningham, a civilian astronaut who helped reignite America’s push to the Moon following the tragic Apollo 1 fire, died on Tuesday (Jan. 3). He was 90 years old.
The last surviving member of the first crewed Apollo flight, Apollo 7, Ronnie Walter “Walt” Cunningham could be seen as an outsider compared to most other astronauts of his time: He was first a fighter pilot, not a test pilot; he was a physicist, not an engineer; and he drove a Porsche, not a Corvette, like most other early NASA astronauts.
But at heart, Cunningham was still an irreverent adventurer, explorer, and, by his own unalloyed admission, someone who kept both eyes focused on the future and seldom dwelt in the past.
“Walt and his crewmates made history [during Apollo 7], paving the way for the Artemis Generation we see today,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a statement. “NASA will always remember his contributions to our nation’s space program and sends our condolences to the Cunningham family.”
