Word: schirra
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
While Sigma 7 bobbed on the little waves of the sunlit Pacific, Schirra reported by radio that he was dry and comfortable and would prefer to be picked up while still in his own ship. "A sweet little bird," he remarked. Helicopters dropped frogmen into the water, and they attached inflatable tubes to keep Sigma 7 afloat. Then the Kcarsarge launched a whaleboat, which attached a line to the capsule. With Navy punctilio. Schirra formally asked the Kearsarge's captain for "permission to come aboard.'' "Permission granted." said Captain Eugene P. Rankin. After blowing the side hatch...
...Orbits Next. Space scientists and engineers are loud in praise of Schirra. Cutting out flyboy tomfoolery and handling the capsule like the spacecraft it is. he proved that by drifting and careful use of the automatic control system the capsule can get along with less fuel on even longer orbits. A heavy periscope can also be dumped, because Schirra proved that tricks of maneuvering that make it unnecessary can be accomplished with very little fuel. These savings can be invested in other desirables, such as more oxygen for breathing and more water for cooling...
...second six-orbit jaunt. The next U.S. astronaut will probably fly 18 orbits early in 1963, staying in space for a full day. This will leave the U.S. still behind the Russians, whose heavier and better provisioned spacecraft have stayed in space for three and four days, but Astronaut Schirra-who is being called by admirers "the first real space pilot''-made a giant step toward catching...
...Wally Schirra acquired his interest in flying and sophisticated machinery by inheritance. His father, a retired engineer, now 68. was a bomber pilot in World War I who was shot down over the Western Front but managed to survive and fly again. He kept flying after the war, and for eight months was a barnstormer at county fairs. Sometimes when he stunted to impress the customers, his young wife Flo climbed out on the lower wing of his beat-up biplane...
...police chief again." After attending public schools in Oradell and Englewood. N.J., Wally went briefly to Newark College of Engineering, and in 1942 got an appointment to Annapolis. He graduated in 1945. 215th in a class of 1,045. Just too late for World War II. In 1946 Wally Schirra married svelte, blonde Josephine Fraser, stepdaughter of Admiral James L. Holloway, who commanded in the Northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean area during World War II and led the U.S. force that landed in Lebanon in 1958 (TIME cover...