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Walter Cunningham

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox astronaut Ronnie Walter Cunningham (March 16, 1932 – January 3, 2023) was an American astronaut, fighter pilot, physicist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author of the 1977 book The All-American Boys. NASA's third civilian astronaut (after Neil Armstrong and Elliot See), he was a lunar module pilot on the Apollo 7 mission in 1968.

BiographyEdit

Early life, education and military careerEdit

Cunningham was born in Creston, Iowa, on March 16, 1932.<ref name="nasabio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He graduated from Venice High School in Los Angeles, California, in 1950. The science building is named Cunningham Hall in his honor.<ref name="nasabio" /><ref>Walter Cunningham ~ 1950</ref>

Thereafter, Cunningham continued his education at nearby Santa Monica College<ref name="famousSMCalumni">Famous SMC Alumni Set Forth a Path of Excellence to Follow</ref> until joining the U.S. Navy in 1951. He began flight training in 1952 and served on active duty as a fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1953 until 1956, flying 54 missions as a night fighter pilot in Korea. Armistice discussions were still ongoing when Cunningham initially left for Korea, and the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed just before he arrived.<ref>Interview at USC Institute for Creative Technologies, June 21, 2018</ref> From 1956 to 1975, he continued to serve in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, ultimately retiring at the rank of colonel.<ref name="nasabio" />

Cunningham married the former Lo Ella Irby of Norwalk, California, and had two children, Brian and Kimberley. Walter and Lo Ella eventually divorced. In addition to his sister and his children, he was survived by his second wife, retired Houston businesswoman Dorothy "Dot" Cunningham.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Upon completing his service obligation, Cunningham resumed his studies at Santa Monica College before transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1958.<ref name="famousSMCalumni" /> Cunningham received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in 1960, and his Master of Arts degree with distinction in 1961, both in physics, from UCLA. He completed all requirements save for the dissertation for a Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics at UCLA during his time at RAND Corporation, where he spent three years prior to his NASA selection.<ref name="nasabio" />

NASA careerEdit

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File:Apollo 7 Cunningham.jpg
Cunningham during the Apollo 7 mission

In October 1963, Cunningham was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA. On October 11, 1968, he occupied the Lunar Module Pilot seat for the eleven-day flight of Apollo 7, the first launch of a crewed Apollo mission.<ref name="nasabio" /> The flight carried no Lunar Module and Cunningham was responsible for all spacecraft systems except launch and navigation. The crew kept busy with myriad system tests, including successfully completed test firing of the service module engine and measuring the accuracy of the spacecraft systems.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Following the mission, Cunningham went on to head up the Skylab branch of the Flight Crew Directorate and left NASA in 1971.<ref name="astronautix.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="nasabio" />

Cunningham accumulated more than 4,500 hours of flying time, including more than 3,400 in jet aircraft and 263 hours in space.<ref name="nasabio" />

Later lifeEdit

In 1974, Cunningham attended Harvard Business School's six-week Advanced Management Program and later worked as a businessman and investor in a number of private ventures.<ref name="nasabio" /> In 1977, he published The All-American Boys, a reminiscence of his astronaut days.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was also a major contributor to and foreword writer for the 2007 space history book In the Shadow of the Moon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2018, Cunningham joined the Back to Space organization as an Astronaut Consultant with the goal of inspiring the next generation to go to Mars.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2008, NASA awarded Cunningham the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his Apollo 7 mission.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He became a radio talk-show host and public speaker, worked as a consultant to start-up technology companies, and was chairman of the Texas Aerospace Commission.<ref name="nasabio" />

DeathEdit

Cunningham died in Houston on January 3, 2023, at age 90, from complications resulting from a fall.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Global warming viewsEdit

Cunningham rejected the scientific consensus on climate change. His biography page at the [[CO2 Coalition|Template:CO2 Coalition]] said "Since 2000, he has been writing and speaking out on the hoax that humans are controlling the temperature of the earth."<ref name="CO2CoalitionBio"/>

In 2010, Cunningham published a short book titled "Global Warming: Facts versus Faith".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In an editorial published in the Houston Chronicle on August 15, 2010, Cunningham claimed that the empirical evidence did not support global warming.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2012, he and other former astronauts and NASA employees sent a critical letter to the agency highlighting what they believed to be "unproven assertions that man-made carbon dioxide was a major factor in global warming."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

OrganizationsEdit

Cunningham was an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, fellow of the American Astronautical Society, and member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, American Geophysical Union, Explorers Club, Sigma Pi Sigma and Sigma Xi, Association of Space Explorers, CO2 Coalition, Houston American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, Aviation Subcommittee, Houston Chamber of Commerce, Earth Awareness Foundation, and National Association of Small Business Investment Companies.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="nasabio" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="CO2CoalitionBio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards and honorsEdit

Cunningham was a recipient of numerous national and international honors, including:

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In popular cultureEdit

In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Cunningham is portrayed by Fredric Lehne.

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

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