Schirra's Space

I liked Schirra's Space. Its only 227 pages with good pictures. A quick easy read. Read it in 1 day. We see Wally Schirra graduating Annapolis Naval Academy and becoming a naval aviator and getting his wings. He flies in the Korea War and cross trains with the Air Force and flies jets and shoots down 2 MiGs.He is highly decorated and eventually gets assigned to PAX the Navy's jet testing facility as a test pilot. He flies many fast jets and finds many faults. He almost gets killed a few times. He becomes an Aviation Intelligence officer on a ship. The captain of his ship does not want to let him transfer but the CNO says let him transfer... the nation needs him. He has confidential orders to report to the newly developing NASA. He goes through the selection process and becomes one of the Mercury 7. He trains and trains and goes up in a Mercury, Gemini, and an Apollo spacecraft. President Kennedy invites him to the White House and asks him if he is interested in politics. Wally says no, that he is interested in space and its science. He goes on a big tour for president LBJ. He loved his wife Jo and family. Together they have a long strong marriage.They live near some of the other astronauts and become best friends. He retires from the Navy as a Captain and retires from NASA having a brilliant carrier. A national hero. Wally had a big ego, loved fast cars and was not afraid to tell management when they were wrong and many times refused their strong requests... like no coffee in space, and many safety issues. He also was instrumental in adding improvements to some of the spacecraft. The original Mercury 7 were allowed much lee way in bottom up type management. Many of their suggestions were actively sought. Later he becomes an executive in an oil development fund but bails when he learns the CEO is a crook. He also becomes CEO of an environmental cleanup company .The company goes through a merger and he sells his interest. He also works with Walter Cronkite describing the space missions. He gets a bad cold on his Apollo mission and becomes a commercial figurehead selling Actifed cold medicine. He is friends with many of the astronauts and families and is saddened by their passing and untimely deaths. He tells us he thinks NASA should go back more to the old days with more input from the astronaut helping NASA rather than just being passengers on a shuttle. He really wants a super space station and take small steps to go to Mars.He sees the value of learning as we go and that we can't rush into distant manned space exploration. He wants vastly more funding and a long term vision of where and what NASA is going to do. Wally had a sense of humor and played many Gotcha jokes on the other astronauts and support members of NASA. He tells us in the beginning of the book he isn't going to sugar coat the book but give his feelings. We learn he is very competitive with a big ego but is able to work with others for the success of NASA. The book h

Schirra's Space was an interesting, quick and very enlightening read. I knew there was a good reason for Wally to retire from NASA early, but I didn't hear much about it prior to reading this book. This book tells that story and also permitted Wally to give us his thoughts about the manned space program. One of his biggest gripes at retirement was that NASA had no immediate plans for lofting a manned space station. That gripe is no longer valid. Wally provided much info and also described in some detail the step by step sequence he used to achieve orbital rendezvous between Gemini 7 and 6 (sufficient to simulate the celestial event on the computer). I had not heard that NASA considered hard docking the two Gemini spacecraft, but that it was ultimately voted down as too risky by the pilots and other experts who had a vote. Although many of his comments are no longer valid this was an interesting book. The writing appeared to be straight "Wally talk" with little editing for style, telling the reader exactly what Wally thoughts were quickly and efficiently. One interesting observation made by Wally was that the Gemini handled more like a fighter than the relatively massive Apollo, which felt more like a bomber or truck. Clearly he enjoyed his Gemini mission most of his three.

Wally Shirra doesn't lack for confidence. Then again how would a person, without the self confidence of a test pilot, strap himself to a rocket? A great insider's view of the program. However for all his confidence Shirra goes out of his way to not cast a single stone at the many people he crossed paths with through out his career. A class act. No new real information is uncovered through this book. Just a fun read.

Thankfully, Wally Schirra has taken the time to pen his memoirs. Though the book is quite short, it gives the reader all the information that one would like or need to know about Mercury-Sigma 7, Gemini 6 and Apollo 7. Mr. Schirra was part of the elite "Original 7" fraternity which makes his story important for history. Wally cuts to the chase and tells it like it was. While the book will not win the Pulitzer Prize, Wally quickly sums up his youth, his entry into the Navy and his eventual rise to astronaut. I especially appreciated Wally's coverage of Apollo 7 which seems to be lost in the history books. In most books on Apollo, the Apollo 7 flight is given nothing more than glancing coverage. Apollo 7 was very important, because if Apollo 7 did not succeed, Apollo 8 would have been a moot point. The reader gains an understanding of why Wally left NASA after Apollo 7, when it seems clear that had he remained around, he could have gone to the moon. It is nice to see that someone in that position thought of family above job. This book is a must for anyone who wants to supplement their knowledge of the early space program. Any space enthusiast knows that to gain a full understanding of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, you need to read as many astronaut autobiographies as one can get their hands on. Each astronaut who has written their story adds something that has not been mentioned before. Mr. Schirra has written a great book. The writing style may not be the best, but this book is a quick read that can be read in one day. The reader will come away from this book understanding and appreciating the unique contributions as well as the wit, charm and humor of Wally Schirra. Good job Wally!

I learned from this book how the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts saw themselves not only as the guys who flew the spacecraft, but as the ones who built them. They were involved in design decisions. That's why Grissom hung a lemon on the command module simulator -- he knew the problems with it. That's why Schirra almost delayed the launch due to wind -- he knew the couches weren't designed for an emergency land landing. This leads Schirra to the conclusion that, were the shuttle astronauts as involved as this, the Challenger disaster wouldn't have happened. The shuttle astronauts would have known about the o-ring problem and would have had the authority to say, let's wait until it warms up.