The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cunningham, Walter

Born Mar. 16, 1932, in Creston, Iowa. Astronaut of the USA.

In 1951, Cunningham began his service in the US Navy, where he was trained as a pilot. He later left active military service but remained in the Marine Corps reserves with the rank of major. In 1960 he graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a major in physics. In 1961 he received a master’s degree in physics at UCLA and subsequently a doctorate. He worked for an industrial corporation, where he studied the problem of defense against ballistic rockets launched from submarines and also problems of the earth’s magnetism. In 1963, Cunningham became an astronaut for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Together with W. Schirra, Jr. and D. Eisele he completed a space flight from Oct. 11 to Oct. 22, 1968, on the Apollo 7, which made 163 revolutions around the earth. This was the first test flight of the command module of the Apollo spacecraft.

References in periodicals archive

This mission, which included Wally Schirra and Walter Cunningham, offered a series of firsts for NASA; for instance, it was NASA's first manned Apollo flight and first manned flight with the Saturn IB rocket.

Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele

My memory was refreshed last week when a veteran of that summer, the Honorable Walter Cunningham, President Jimmy Carter's ambassador to Kenya, visited me in Clinton and heaped praise on Gordon Lankton's Gallery of African Art.

What happened to Labor Day?

The negative fallout from President Barack Obama's proposed cancellation of the NASA space shuttle program is growing, writes Walter Cunningham, who piloted the first manned Apollo mission in 1968.

Company Watch - NASA

One astronaut, Walter Cunningham - who flew on the first manned Apollo flight, Apollo 7 in 1968 - made national news in August 1964 when he fell and ripped open his pressurized suit on McKenzie Pass, leading to a better-designed suit, according to a story in the Bend Bulletin at the time.

Oregon portrayed moon

Included in the lecture programme will be a special viewing of the award- winning film "In The Shadow Of The Moon", a documentary about the Apollo moon missions - a subject dear to Walter Cunningham who was command pilot of Apollo 7, the first manned spacecraft in the Apollo programme.

Take a trip to the moon on a Fred. Olsen cruise

As I helped serve hot bowls of vegetable soup, Walter Cunningham told me how much the club meant to him.

THIS IS WHERE THE REAL XMAS CAN BE FOUND; Volunteers bring festive cheer to city's homeless

The selection includes some well known favourites as well as two original numbers written by Walter Cunningham, I wouldn't trade my Shamrock and Where Time Stood Still.

Steppin' Out Sunday: Mick's new Beginning

On my trip there was also a celebrity speaker, former US astronaut Walter Cunningham. What better way to brush up your conversation at dinner than by sharing an early evening cocktail with Walter discussing 'Is There Life Out There?' One of the afternoon's highlights, however, was afternoon tea at 4pm in the panoramic Galileo's lounge, with live harp or piano music being played in the background.

Travel: Sailing into blue heaven; The joys of a luxury cruise can be dangerously addictive, as a pampered Phil Brown discovered on a trip round the Med

Eisele, and Walter Cunningham, was successfully launched and began an 11-day Earth orbit during which the crew transmitted live television broadcasts from the spaceship.

1968: Business and industry; science; education; philosophy and religion