This page no longer updated from 31 October 2001. Latest version can be found at www.astronautix.com

astronautix.com Cunningham


Ronnie Walter (Walt) Cunningham Status: Inactive. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Pilot. Sex: Male. Marital Status: Married. Children: Two. Birth Date: 16 March 1932. Birth City: Creston. Birth State: Iowa. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Group: 1963 NASA Group. Date Selected: 17 October 1963. Departed: 1971. Number of Flights: 1. Total Time: 10.84 days.

NAME: Walter Cunningham

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Cunningham was born in Creston, Iowa, on March 16, 1932.

EDUCATION: Cunningham received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in physics in 1960 and a Master of Arts degree in physics in 1961 from the University of California at Los Angeles. He attended the Advanced Management Program, Harvard School of Business, in 1974.

EXPERIENCE: Cunningham joined the Navy in 1951 and began flight training in 1952. He joined a Marine squadron in 1953 and served with the Marine Corps until 1956 and in the Marine Corps Reserve until 1975. He held the rank of Colonel, USMC (retired). After receiving his MS degree from UCLA, Cunningham worked as a scientist with the RAND Corporation.

NASA selected him as an astronaut in October 1963. On October 11, 1968, he, Commander Walter Schirra and Command Module pilot Don Eisele were launched aboard Apollo 7 - the first flight test of the redesigned Apollo after the first crew died in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire on January 27, 1967. The flight was a complete success and provided NASA with confidence to send the next Apollo crew, into orbit around the moon. However the crew suffered head colds and had numerous arguments with ground controllers. NASA management secretly decided that none of them would be allowed to fly in space again.

Cunningham retired from NASA in 1971 and published a book of his experiences as an astronaut, The All-American Boys. He later was president of Acorn Ventures.


Flight Log


Back to Index
Last update 3 May 2001.
To contact astronauts or cosmonauts.
Contact Mark Wade with any corrections or comments. Cosmonaut data by Alexander B. Zheleznyakov.

Conditions for use of drawings, pictures, or other materials from this site..
© Mark Wade, 2001 .