NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Former astronaut Walter Cunningham, who flew into space on Apollo 7, the first flight with crew in NASA’s Apollo Program, died early Tuesday morning in Houston. He was 90 years old. Jim Remar with Cosmosphere notes that Cunningham carved his own place in history.
"Walt Cunningham was one of the heroes of early manned space exploration," Remar said. "A friend of the Cosmosphere. Someone who understood the risks involved in space exploration and someone that helped pave the way, ultimately, for that first landing on the moon."
Cunningham was born March 16, 1932, in Creston, Iowa. He graduated from Venice High School, in Venice, California, before going on to receive 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 at Los Angeles.
Cunningham then completed a doctorate in physics with exception of thesis at the Advanced Management Program in the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1974.
As the generation of the first space explorers passes to their next world, Remar notes that it is up to institutions like Cosmosphere to keep the history alive past their life span.
"The astronauts from the early American space program are, unfortunately, coming of an age where some are no longer with us," Remar said. "Our role here at the Cosmosphere is to continue to tell their story and inspire that next generation, inspire the next generation of Walt Cunninghams. That's in part what we are here for and why the Cosmosphere is important."
The space race was about competition and there will still be some of that, but Remar sees the future in space as being about collaboration, too.
"You're going to see both," Remar said. "I think that with the private companies, the Space X, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada, there will be the public/private cooperation. Joint ventures between NASA and those private companies and then solo ventures from each, as well. I think there's got to be some type of continued cooperation between countries. I think the space station is a prime example of what can be accomplished when many nations come together with one objective."
Cunningham was selected as an astronaut in 1963 as part of NASA's third astronaut class.
Information from a NASA press release on Cunningham's passing contributed to this article.