Member of first crewed Apollo flight and former astronaut Cunningham passed away at 90

Former US astronaut Walter Cunningham, who flew to space aboard Apollo 7 on the first crewed Apollo mission in 1968, paving the way for the first human moon landing nine months later, died on Tuesday at the age of 90, according to NASA.

 

Cunningham was joined by crewmates Walter Schirra and Donn Eisele for the 11-day mission in low-Earth orbit. It was the first human test flight of the new Apollo spacecraft, which would eventually land a dozen astronauts on the moon between 1969 and 1972.

 

After mission commander Schirra, one of the original ‘Mercury Seven’ astronauts, and command module pilot Eisele passed away in 2007 and 1987, respectively, he was the last surviving member of the Apollo 7 crew.

 

Despite not having the moon landing craft, Cunningham was the designated lunar module pilot for the flight and was in charge of all systems other than launch and navigation.