R. Walter Cunningham (1932-2023)

“I gave me,” explained Apollo 7 astronaut R. Walter Cunningham when he discussed his storied career at NASA. “I gave my best thinking, and I organized, I worked on things and got some things done that somebody else might’ve done, but I did them! And I’m proud of that.”

Decades after the Apollo program ended, it was his colleagues' shared attitude that stuck with Cunningham the most. He often remarked on the significance of working with a like-minded dedicated team, undeterred by risk and inspired by challenges, committed to the larger mission of the program. “Life should not be risk-free,” he once said. “We shouldn’t be thinking only of existing. We ought to be thinking about living! We grow by risk. By overcoming challenges, we grow as people.”

R. Walter Cunningham passed away on January 3, 2023. As a member of Apollo 7, Cunningham took on the risk of flying the first crewed flight of the Apollo program, which paved the way for future Apollo missions, including the first lunar landing in 1969.

Born in Iowa in 1932 but raised in Southern California, Cunningham showed an interest in physics from a young age. He served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps before earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. While working on his doctoral thesis in physics, he became a scientist at the Rand Corporation. There he drew on his knowledge of Earth's magnetosphere for classified defense studies on submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In 1963, he left his Ph.D. program and Rand to join NASA’s third astronaut class. He later said, “I looked upon the space program as the ultimate testing ground. Whatever my talents, whatever my capacities, they would surely be tested and found out there.”

Over the next several years, Cunningham and his fellow astronauts spent long hours training in simulators and in classrooms, going on geology field trips, and flying. In 1966, Cunningham received his assignment as a lunar module pilot on the second crewed Apollo mission alongside Walter M. Schirra and Donn F. Eisele. But tragedy struck in January 1967. During a routine test ahead of the first crewed mission—later named Apollo 1—a fire consumed the command module and took the lives of astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. NASA suspended crewed missions for nearly two years. Following the fire and investigations, NASA re-engineered the Apollo spacecraft, creating a vehicle that was safer, more reliable, and more capable. In October 1968, after a series of uncrewed test flights, the first crewed mission—Apollo 7—was ready to fly.

During the 11-day Apollo 7 mission, the crew tested the Block II Command Module, ensuring that the hardware was ready for lunar missions. It was deemed “101% successful.” In his memoir, Cunningham noted, “The first manned test of the Apollo spacecraft offered an opportunity to be counted, and who has a right to ask for anything more? I’d rather die than not be counted.”

Apollo 7 also treated television audiences to the first live broadcasts from outer space. On October 14, 1968, as the Apollo 7 crew orbited above the United States, they held up a handwritten sign for television audiences on Earth. “Hello from the lovely Apollo Room, high atop everything,” it read, hinting at the jocular tone of the forthcoming broadcasts over the next week. Another, even more playful sign followed: “Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks.” Soon the broadcast became known as “The Wally, Walt, and Donn Show.” Cunningham later reflected, “The ham in us didn’t just surface; we… near brought back vaudeville.” The Apollo 7 crew not only entertained audiences at home, they also shared a new perspective on life in outer space. Although the picture was grainy, shaky, and at times out-of-focus, audiences thrilled in close-ups of equipment, views of weightlessness, and the Earth as seen from the command module window. In 1969, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded the crew an Emmy for their groundbreaking broadcasts.

After the mission, Cunningham became chief of the Skylab Branch of the Astronaut Office. He resigned from NASA in 1971. He then went into business and became a radio talk show host. Throughout his life, he remained an avid supporter of space exploration. When reflecting on the Apollo program, Cunningham noted, “we will be remembered a thousand years from now less for the disasters we avoided than for the quests we had the courage to commence.”