He was a loyal teammate of his Mercury 7 group - when Gus Grissom was accused of blowing the hatch prematurely on his famous Mercury flight, Wally was able to prove that Ol Gussy was not lying - he "commanded" that he not leave his Mercury capsule until on deck of the recovery ship so that he could blow the hatch and present evidence that Gus to not blow the hatch - it was all about a bruise on the trigger hand - that Gus did not have and Wally did - a true American hero
At 2:20 Wally mentions John Healey. When I was just a kid, John was my neighbor. He was a mentor to me. One day he called me after school and said come over to my house NOW. It turned out Wally had dropped in. I got to spend the afternoon listening to these guys tell stories. They cracked a bottle and made sure I had unlimited soft drinks. They answered every question I had with a smile, signed autographs, and Wally inducted me into the Turtle Club (YBYSWIA). These guys made a 15 year old kid feel like a king. God bless em!
When I think of "Commanders" of the early space missions, three really come to mind. Schirra, Borman and Stafford. All three were the boss on their mission and made it clear to anyone who cared to ask. What a great video--I'm glad they did these back in the day.
You're 100% right! I met him a few times. He was the highlight of the night with his stories. My grandfather was good friends with him. I was 12 when I met him for the 1st time. Didn't know I was hanging out with a legend at the time. Luckily for me, he made such an impression, I remember meeting him like it was yesterday.
Great Wally Schirra. Remember him on CBS, few hours before the launch of Apollo 11 (09:32 am), on TV at the side of Walter Cronkite, explaining the pressure of light and other things about the lunar mission. Thank you for showing this interview...
Wally was a great compliment to Walter. He always managed to fill in the both the technical and psychological details of what was going on inside the space craft during the entire mission. Loved his detail analysis.
Borman and Lovell's spacecraft...Had all of the wires hanging out of the adapter module of 7. That's what Wally meant by the "Laundry" behind their spacecraft! Lol
Thanks to the author and directors. This chat with Wall Schirra was just fascinating, interesting, and really reveals a lot of things that happened at the Astronaut and technician level that I never conceived of. Thanks Wally and the persons responsible for this viewing.
I love them being interrupted by plane engines. I lived in Utah near Hill AFB. If you were outside, you just got used to pausing conversations for a few seconds about every 20 minutes as the F-16's flew over.
This museum is right next to the Starlight Bowl outdoor theater and I saw many evening plays when the actors paused like this interview and resumed their lines with no break. They didn’t even acknowledge that a plane was flying only a couple of hundred feet over our heads.
I suspect Wally's Grumpiness on Apollo 7 was likely from Nicotine Withdrawal, as he was still a Heavy Smoker. His earlier Flights were only 6 orbits, and 16 orbits. He was reported to be craving a Smoke even after those Flights. Apollo 7 was just shy of 11 days...
Thank you. Ive been saying that for years but very few people believe me (they all want to believe that head cold BS). Im a former smoker. Nicotine withdrawal is a very real malady. As you said Schirra was a very heavy smoker at that time.
Walter Schirra was the ONLY astronaut who was part of the different NASA programs - Mercury -Gemini -Apollo Mike Yriart From San Andres Great Buenos Aires Argentina
Ahh, I thought his Gemini 8 story was going to be about his radioing the capsule from his plane while it was up there. I didn't know that one about its recovery.
1:58 Wally talks about asserting himself as a commanding officer in Apollo. It didn't go very well on Apollo 7, and Walt Cunningham (Wally's rookie crewmate) had a lot to say about that in his oral history interview.
@jshepard152 Yes, I recently saw the John Young interview. Shame the new batch of interviews are so relatively short. I could listen to these Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts talk for days.
Wally is a bit of a bullshitter . Actually disgraced himself on Apollo 7 - seemed to think the whole of Apollo orbited him - he was at it well before launch and it just got worse - that was always going to happen head-cold or not . He just wasn't up to the complexities of Apollo & his ship but made no real effort to rectify this - there were so many guys who could have done a much better job . He was understandably burned out by 1967 - he said the business had consumed him as I can imagine it would . It doesn't excuse a Navy officer behaving like an insubordinate spoilt brat . Slayton should have reined him in.
I don't think he came off as a bullshitter, in this interview anyway. He owned up to his behavior or mindset at the time. Bottom line, the mission itself was perfect
@@scottburns2600 I hear you . I might argue that the flight achieved all it's objectives but the mission was far from perfect - in that perfection doesn't include pissing off the flight controllers & Mr Flight Controller himself ! I'd be interested in your thoughts on my other observations - fair ? not fair ?
@@DrTWG Pretty fair. By all accounts Wally did a lot for the space program, but he was unusually difficult to get along with. The tragedy of Apollo 7 is that the rest of the crew was doomed never to fly again. It didn't matter to Wally because he was on his way out anyway.
@@jshepard152 I never understood the other 2 guys . Cunningham maintained that he stayed out of it . Whatever - they were both grown men and would have been well aware that pissing off Kraft was a bad career move. They also knew that [un]Jolly Wally was going .
Craft was no saint he was an arrogant ass himself... The issue was test pilots and Naval aviators are cocky or arrogant by nature and that's why they work... Crafts problem was he didnt like push back....
He was a loyal teammate of his Mercury 7 group - when Gus Grissom was accused of blowing the hatch prematurely on his famous Mercury flight, Wally was able to prove that Ol Gussy was not lying - he "commanded" that he not leave his Mercury capsule until on deck of the recovery ship so that he could blow the hatch and present evidence that Gus to not blow the hatch - it was all about a bruise on the trigger hand - that Gus did not have and Wally did - a true American hero
At 2:20 Wally mentions John Healey. When I was just a kid, John was my neighbor. He was a mentor to me. One day he called me after school and said come over to my house NOW. It turned out Wally had dropped in. I got to spend the afternoon listening to these guys tell stories. They cracked a bottle and made sure I had unlimited soft drinks. They answered every question I had with a smile, signed autographs, and Wally inducted me into the Turtle Club (YBYSWIA). These guys made a 15 year old kid feel like a king. God bless em!
My grandpa was good friends with Wally. I was lucky to meet him a few times. His stories were amazing! R.I.P.
When I think of "Commanders" of the early space missions, three really come to mind. Schirra, Borman and Stafford. All three were the boss on their mission and made it clear to anyone who cared to ask. What a great video--I'm glad they did these back in the day.
I enjoy listening to the astronauts tell stories. Wally was a very smart and articulate man.
They were in those days...better educated.
@@andrewmacdonald4833 I don't know, a lot of the Shuttle astronauts had many advanced degrees
What a superb interview. Wally Schirra has a great sense of humor and is so very interesting
You're 100% right! I met him a few times. He was the highlight of the night with his stories. My grandfather was good friends with him. I was 12 when I met him for the 1st time. Didn't know I was hanging out with a legend at the time. Luckily for me, he made such an impression, I remember meeting him like it was yesterday.
Great Wally Schirra.
Remember him on CBS, few hours before the launch of Apollo 11 (09:32 am), on TV at the side of Walter Cronkite, explaining the pressure of light and other things about the lunar mission.
Thank you for showing this interview...
Wally was a great compliment to Walter. He always managed to fill in the both the technical and psychological details of what was going on inside the space craft during the entire mission. Loved his detail analysis.
At least they were 98% close in what Wally said in the Apollo 7 episode In “From The Earth To The Moon”
He was the boss of the flight directors, couldn’t be more direct, the great Walter M. Schirra at his best.
I am not sure that is correct. Chris Kraft was the boss of the flight directors.
Great American, and a Great Astronaut...With a Great sense of humor, as well!
Borman and Lovell's spacecraft...Had all of the wires hanging out of the adapter module of 7. That's what Wally meant by the "Laundry" behind their spacecraft! Lol
Thanks to the author and directors. This chat with Wall Schirra was just fascinating, interesting, and really reveals a lot of things that happened at the Astronaut and technician level that I never conceived of. Thanks Wally and the persons responsible for this viewing.
Thanks for finding these. Saw the Alan Shepard American History one and wondered where the rest were. Cheers.
I love them being interrupted by plane engines. I lived in Utah near Hill AFB. If you were outside, you just got used to pausing conversations for a few seconds about every 20 minutes as the F-16's flew over.
Yes Wally, the mouse fart (or ausfahrt) has now been preserved for all of time.
Thank you.
This museum is right next to the Starlight Bowl outdoor theater and I saw many evening plays when the actors paused like this interview and resumed their lines with no break. They didn’t even acknowledge that a plane was flying only a couple of hundred feet over our heads.
I suspect Wally's Grumpiness on Apollo 7 was likely from Nicotine Withdrawal, as he was still a Heavy Smoker. His earlier Flights were only 6 orbits, and 16 orbits. He was reported to be craving a Smoke even after those Flights. Apollo 7 was just shy of 11 days...
Thank you. Ive been saying that for years but very few people believe me (they all want to believe that head cold BS). Im a former smoker. Nicotine withdrawal is a very real malady. As you said Schirra was a very heavy smoker at that time.
Probably didn't help. But there was a lot of reasons why Wally was pissed off.
Maybe, but I have read that Wally stopped smoking in 1967.
I wish Gus (and Ed and Roger) had been alive to give these interviews
They will never grow old, to borrow a well known phrase
Wally was a real good man. Men are not made of same stuff today.
Very fascinating video.
Walter Schirra was the ONLY astronaut who was part of the different NASA programs
- Mercury
-Gemini
-Apollo
Mike Yriart
From San Andres
Great Buenos Aires
Argentina
Ahh, I thought his Gemini 8 story was going to be about his radioing the capsule from his plane while it was up there. I didn't know that one about its recovery.
1:58 Wally talks about asserting himself as a commanding officer in Apollo. It didn't go very well on Apollo 7, and Walt Cunningham (Wally's rookie crewmate) had a lot to say about that in his oral history interview.
Thanks I’m going to check that out.
@@Ghostshadows306
Enjoy!
What was the date of this interview? Great video, I really enjoyed Wally's sense of humor:)
December 1 1998
This was wonderful. Is there a John Young or John Glenn interview?
The John Young one is posted on this channel. Glenn did an oral history interview on August 25, 1997.
@jshepard152 Yes, I recently saw the John Young interview. Shame the new batch of interviews are so relatively short. I could listen to these Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts talk for days.
Wally seems to have forgotten that Pete Conrad was commander of both Apollo 12 and Skylab 2.
Technically a Skylab flight, but it did use apollo hardware….point taken
Filmed in November or December 1998. The description and details of this video are very lacking
Hey, anything is better than nothing!
Ciao dalla Sardegna! Forza Ghilarza! 😂😂😂
Not only did no commander besides Tom Stafford get a second Apollo flight, no Gemini commander got a second Gemini flight either
Didn't Jim Lovell fly at least one genmi mission and 2 apollo missions?
@@alanfitzgerald9026 Yes, but he only commanded one of each. Frank Borman commanded Gemini 7
The original sigma dude.
If you have episodes of
Glynn Lunney
Neil Armstrong please upload
Enjoyed all the other videos , thanks :)
Keep on adding more and more.
Dial down the ads please
Wally is a bit of a bullshitter . Actually disgraced himself on Apollo 7 - seemed to think the whole of Apollo orbited him - he was at it well before launch and it just got worse - that was always going to happen head-cold or not . He just wasn't up to the complexities of Apollo & his ship but made no real effort to rectify this - there were so many guys who could have done a much better job . He was understandably burned out by 1967 - he said the business had consumed him as I can imagine it would . It doesn't excuse a Navy officer behaving like an insubordinate spoilt brat . Slayton should have reined him in.
I don't think he came off as a bullshitter, in this interview anyway. He owned up to his behavior or mindset at the time. Bottom line, the mission itself was perfect
@@scottburns2600 I hear you . I might argue that the flight achieved all it's objectives but the mission was far from perfect - in that perfection doesn't include pissing off the flight controllers & Mr Flight Controller himself ! I'd be interested in your thoughts on my other observations - fair ? not fair ?
@@DrTWG
Pretty fair. By all accounts Wally did a lot for the space program, but he was unusually difficult to get along with. The tragedy of Apollo 7 is that the rest of the crew was doomed never to fly again. It didn't matter to Wally because he was on his way out anyway.
@@jshepard152 I never understood the other 2 guys . Cunningham maintained that he stayed out of it . Whatever - they were both grown men and would have been well aware that pissing off Kraft was a bad career move. They also knew that [un]Jolly Wally was going .
Craft was no saint he was an arrogant ass himself... The issue was test pilots and Naval aviators are cocky or arrogant by nature and that's why they work... Crafts problem was he didnt like push back....
This is a horrible interviewer. He cuts Wally off right when things get interesting on a topic. No follow-up questions.
He spends a lot of time kissing Wally's @ss.
11:48
Legend