The only astronaut to fly in all three of NASA’s earliest manned space programs. He was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, and the third American to orbit the earth in October 1962. His final mission was in October 1968 when he commanded Apollo 7 in a quest to land men on the moon. The Apollo 7 crew provided the first televised pictures from an American spacecraft. Captain Schirra logged more than 295 hours in space, and specialized in developing life-support systems for the Mercury astronauts.