Daily Times

Walter Cunningham, the last living astronaut of NASA’s first crewed space flight in 1968, has died at the age of 90, the US space agency announced on Tuesday. Cunningham, whose 1968 Apollo 7 mission opened the way for the first human moon landing a few months later in 1969, died on Tuesday morning in Houston, a NASA statement said. “Walt Cunningham was a fighter pilot, physicist, and an entrepreneur – but, above all, he was an explorer. On Apollo 7, the first launch of a crewed Apollo mission, Walt and his crewmates made history, paving the way for the Artemis Generation we see today,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “NASA will always remember his contributions to our nation’s space program and sends our condolences to the Cunningham family,” Nelson added. Following his death, Cunningham’s family also paid tribute to the late astronaut: “We would like to express our immense pride in the life that he lived, and our deep gratitude for the man that he was – a patriot, an explorer, pilot, astronaut, husband, brother, and father. The world has lost another true hero, and we will miss him dearly.” Born in 1932 in Iowa, Cunningham earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors in physics in 1960 and a Master of Arts with distinction in physics in 1961 from the University of California. In 1974, he completed a doctorate in physics with exception of thesis at the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Cunningham joined the Navy in 1951 and flew 54 missions as a night fighter pilot in Korea, according to the NASA statement.