Walter Cunningham, the Last Surviving Apollo 7 Astronaut, Dead at 90: 'True Hero'

NASA

The last surviving NASA astronaut from the 1968's Apollo 7 mission, Walter Cunningham, has died. He was 90.

Cunningham died early Tuesday morning in Houston, NASA confirmed.

"NASA will always remember his contributions to our nation's space program and sends our condolences to the Cunningham family," the space agency's administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement announcing the news.

Cunningham's family also honored the late astronaut following his death, expressing their "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."

Al Fenn/Getty Apollo 7 astronauts, (L-R) Walter Cunningham, Donn Eisele, and Walter Schirra

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One of three astronauts aboard the first successful crewed space mission, Cunningham first joined NASA in 1963. Cunningham enlisted in the program as a then civilian alongside US Navy Captain Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and a US air force major, Donn F. Eisele. The famed Apollo 7 mission which lasted around 11 days later paved the way to land humans on the moon for the first time.

Born on March 16, 1932, in Creston, Iowa, Cunningham completed his high school education at Venice High School, in California. He later graduated from the University of California with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in physics in 1960 and a Master of Arts with distinction in physics in 1961. A few years later in 1974, he received a doctorate in physics with the exception of a thesis in the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

David Becker/Getty

In 1951, Cunningham joined the Navy and took on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps before working his way up to serve in the rank of colonel by the time he retired. He also worked as a night fighter pilot in Korea, in addition to being a scientist, and had accumulated more than 4,500 hours of flying prior to joining NASA. He was selected as an astronaut in 1963 as part of NASA's third astronaut class, according to the agency.

Cunningham and the other members of the Apollo 7 mission won a special Emmy award for their daily reports from space. He retired from NASA in 1971 and went on to serve different roles in the private sector including as an executive, consultant entrepreneur, and radio talk show host.

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In an interview with NASA's Oral History Office in 1999, Cunningham discussed his inspirations for his career path.

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"I'm one of those people that never really looked back. I only recall that when someone asked me after I became an astronaut," Cunningham said at the time.

"All I remember is just kind of keeping my nose to the grindstone and wanting to do the best I could as — I didn't realize at the time, but that was because I always wanted to be better prepared for the next step. I've always been looking to the future. I don't live in the past."