Space Pioneer Wally Schirra Dies At 84

From CBS news

Astronaut Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and the only man to fly on all three of NASA's early space missions, has died at the age of 84. Schirra, commanded the first rendezvous of two spacecraft in orbit, in 1962. Schirra became the third American to orbit the Earth, circling the globe six times in a flight that lasted more than nine hours. He returned to space three years later as commander of Gemini 6-A and guided his two-man capsule toward Gemini 7, already in orbit. On Dec. 15, 1965, the two ships came within a few feet of each other as they shot through space, some 185 miles above the Earth. It was the first rendezvous of two spacecraft in orbit. His third and final space flight in 1968 inaugurated the Apollo program. For the Apollo 7 mission in October 1968 — which followed the deadly Apollo launch pad fire which killed fellow Mercury teammate Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee — Schirra's crew ran a shakedown cruise, and for eleven days, they tested what was essentially a brand new spacecraft in every possible way. In all, Schirra logged nearly 300 hours in space.

Thanks to Nelson for bringing this to my attention