“Me the cold in space during the mission? Never had. But Schirra had it, our commander, who had such a predominant role that if he had it, it turned out that we all had it…”. And then, a sarcastic laugh.
It’s just one of the many anecdotes and curiosities that only those who have lived directly the experience of space flight in a still pioneering era can tell.
And there are many episodes that Walter Cunningham told us during our meetings, also in Italy, and that he wrote in his splendid “The Boys of the Moon”, published in Italy by Mursia: “Walt” as he was called by friends, by his many friends also in Italy, where he had come several times on the occasion of anniversaries of historic missions and his own, that Apollo 7 of 1968 which put the Apollo Program back on track after the tragedy of Apollo 1.
Walt died yesterday in Houston at the age of 90. He would have been 91 on March 16th. Married and father of two children, Kimberly and Brian, he died, says a note from Jeff Carr, of NASA, of natural causes, due to advanced age. Even if we still remember it, until a few months ago, as a rock. Four years ago he suffered a bad fall in a parking lot shortly after he got out of his car, sustaining a few broken bones here and there. And he recovered quickly.
Great pilot, and astronaut in 1963
Walter Cunningham, like all NASA astronauts of that period, was a flying ace and was selected after very tough tests. He attended Venice High School in Venice (California), and in 1951 he enlisted as a volunteer in the US Navy. In 1952 he began his pilot training. In 1953 he moved to the Marine Corps and remained there until 1956, and in the meantime he managed to exceed 4500 flight hours, of which over 3400 in jet aircraft. After leaving the Marine Corps as a civilian, in 1963 he was hired by NASA with the third group of astronauts. There were 14 of them, and they included men who would almost all make the history of the space program: among them, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Eugene Cernan.
Cunningham immediately began training for the Apollo program, and together with Walter Schirra he was initially assigned with Roger Chaffee to the program’s first mission, Apollo 1, which was the first to test Apollo in Earth orbit. Cunningham’s crew was the backup crew, then assigned to a subsequent Apollo 2. But Donn Eisele, due to injury, was removed from the primary crew and placed with Schirra and Cunningham on the backup crew. It will be Eisele’s salvation, since Chaffee will make up the Apollo 1 crew together with veterans Grissom and White, who will die in the fire that broke out in the Apollo capsule on January 27, 1967 during the complete countdown test at ramp 34 of Cape Kennedy.
“As a backup crew astronaut, he was among those who had been in the capsule shortly before for checks and tests” – Cunningham told us – “Nothing foreshadowed such a disaster, but we already knew we were running and there were many things that needed to be changed and improved”- Cunningham told us in reference to that first American space tragedy, caused by a short circuit in the Apollo, which flared up in a very short time due to the internal atmosphere of pure oxygen.
Apollo 7
It will then be up to Walt, with Schirra and Eisele, to take the Apollo into space for the first time after the disaster. The doubts that assailed public opinion, but above all the United States Congress, were many. The internal atmosphere of the capsule had changed (with nitrogen and oxygen) and the hatch designed to be opened in 8 seconds (against 90 of the previous version), and self-extinguishing devices for any fires. The capsule underwent a major overhaul, even flight documents were produced on fireproof paper.
Launch day was October 11, 1968, with a Saturn 1B rocket, almost 70 meters high with Apollo on top. For the first time an American spacecraft with three astronauts was in orbit (the Soviets did it in 1964 with Voskhod 1).
As the crew experienced the first firing of Apollo’s Service Module (SPS) main engine, the thrust generated crushed them into their seats, and Schirra let out a “Yabbadabbadoo,” while Eisele called it “a nice kick in the ass.” ass much stronger than the glove we expected.” Eight firings of the SPS were performed almost perfectly, proving beyond doubt the reliability of the engine; and so it had to be, for it would have the task of putting the Apollo into orbit moon and, subsequently, to bring the astronauts home.
The cold in space and the difficult live TV
A very common cold on Earth, but not in space; in fact, in zero gravity the mucus accumulates in the nasal cavities, instead of naturally “flowing” towards the outside. Schirra tried to free himself by forcefully blowing his nose with improvised handkerchiefs, but the only result he obtained was pain in his ears.
Walt Cunningham had criticized Schirra for hiding his flu before the mission, and he admitted the doctor had noticed a slight sore throat, but not severe enough to call it flu. Schirra however, in orbit, was rather angry and suffering from the flu to bear in the narrow spaces of the capsule, he became decidedly irritable. When the Houston air traffic controllers communicated some changes to the flight plan, he showed all his disappointment.
The direct television reporting was an important and, in its own way, exciting moment: for the first time a live broadcast was broadcast showing images from inside the capsule.
Schirra was waking Saturday morning when he heard Eisele discussing with Houston about a broadcast later in the day. Remembering that the TV system hadn’t been tested yet, he decided to object. Mission control was surprised: astronauts can’t disobey orders!
Chief Astronaut Office Deke Slayton spoke in person: “Apollo 7, Capcom One.”
Schirra: “Avanti.”
Slayton: “The point we agreed on is to turn it on. Apollo 7, on the matter we all agreed to just turn on the TV system, turn on the switch. No other activity will be associated with the transmission. I think we have to to do it.”
Schirra: “We don’t have the equipment ready, we haven’t had the opportunity to rehearse, we haven’t eaten yet, I still have a cold and I refuse to screw up our schedule like this!”
But the live broadcast will then take place and it will be a success. In Italy the black and white images arrived with the comments of Piero Angela (from Houston) and Tito Stagno (from Rome). After 163 orbits, 10 days and 20 flight hours, the three men of Apollo 7 were ready to go home.
As Walt Cunningham told us, already a long time ago the astronauts had begun to worry about having to wear helmets during the re-entry phase; that way they wouldn’t be able to blow their nose (they still had cold symptoms). The fear was that the increase in atmospheric pressure during the descent could seriously damage their eardrums, and the only effective maneuver to avoid damage was the good old method of holding your nose and blowing hard to compensate. Schirra told his crew that they would face the return without wearing helmets. Slayton, in mission control, tried to make him change his mind to respect the flight rules, but Schirra did not accept compromises: he felt personally responsible as mission commander. About an hour before returning, the astronauts also took a decongestant pill and thus passed this delicate moment without ear problems.
The ditching took place on 22 October 370 km south of Bermuda.
Colds aside, it was defined by everyone as “A 101 per 100 successful mission”.
Now Apollo could be ready for the Moon, and if 9 months later Armstrong and Aldrin set foot on selenic soil, it was also thanks to the great success of the mission of Cunningham and his two mission mates on Apollo 7.