Schirra Proved Astronauts Can Successfully Control a Spacecraft

October 18, 2022

“I named my spacecraft Sigma 7. Sigma, a Greek symbol for the sum of an equation, stands for engineering excellence. That was my goal – engineering excellence. I would not settle for less,” said NASA astronaut Wally Schirra. Photo credit: NASA

Project Mercury: America’s First Step in Space – Part 5

By Bob Granath

“I’m having a ball up here drifting,” said NASA astronaut Wally Schirra as he orbited the Earth six times during the Mercury-Atlas 8, the agency’s fifth manned space flight — 60 years ago. He proved that if the pilot was allowed to take control of the flight, he could conserve fuel and solve problems as they arise.

On Oct. 3, 1962, Schirra orbited the Earth for just over nine hours in a Mercury spacecraft focusing on technical evaluations as opposed to the scientific experiments as was the case on Scott Carpenter’s flight. According to the post-flight report written by John Boynton and Lewis Fisher of the Mercury Project Office, the capsule and Atlas rocket performed “extremely well in every respect.”

During the orbital flights of Carpenter and John Glenn, both ran dangerously low on maneuvering fuel. In fact, Carpenter did run out. Mission rules for the earlier flights dictated that the spacecraft be placed in an automatic mode in which maneuvering thrusters were constantly keeping the capsule positioned so mission control could automatically fire the retro rockets and bring the astronaut back on a moment’s notice.

“The missions were designed to have a chimpanzee in there,” Schirra said during a NASA Oral History interview on Dec. 1, 1998. “That meant they had to have a lot of automatic maneuvers requiring a tremendous amount of attitude control fuel.”

NASA flight director Christopher Kraft, chief of the Project mercury Flight Operations Division, left, discusses the Mercury-8 flight plan with astronaut Wally Schirra on Sept. 19, 1962. Photo credit: NASA

Following Carpenter’s flight in May 1962, NASA managers were hesitant about flying much more than three or four orbits due to concerns about consumption of the hydrogen peroxide fuel used in the Mercury spacecraft’s attitude control thrusters. However, Schirra argued for double the three obits of Glenn and Carpenter. He convinced Space Task Group Director Bob Gilruth and Mercury Program Manager Walt Williams he could fly six orbits by not staying in the automatic mode that Schirra believed wasted fuel.

“I can control the attitude by hand. Let me shut the spacecraft down and drift,” he told NASA managers. “As a result, I ended up with about 80 percent of my attitude fuel still remaining at retrofire.”

Wally Schirra

Schirra was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, but grew up in nearby Oradell where he became acquainted with aviation at an early age. His father, Walter Schirra Sr., had been a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot during World War I, flying bombing and reconnaissance missions over Germany.

“Mother and Dad barnstormed after World War I in a (Curtiss JN) Jenny,” Schirra said. “Dad convinced Mother to get out on the wing and act like a wing-walker.”

*Astronaut Wally Schirra is fitted with his pressure suit in for the Mercury-Atlas 8 spaceflight in the crew quarters of Hanger S at Cape Canaveral. Photo credit: NASA*

After high school graduation in 1940, Schirra attended Newark College of Engineering (now New Jersey Institute of Technology), where he was involved in ROTC — Reserve Officer Training Corps. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1945 after only three years. The academy had a wartime-accelerated curriculum.

Schirra went on to Naval Flight Training at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida, in 1947. That led to service as a carrier-based fighter pilot and operations officer, flying fighters during the Korean Conflict. In 1958, he attended the Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland. A year later Schirra was selected as one of the Original Seven Mercury astronauts.

Schirra’s 1962 mission was the longest U.S. crewed flight to date, focusing on the spacecraft’s engineering, confirming the Mercury capsule’s durability ahead of the one-day Mercury-Atlas 9 mission scheduled to follow in 1963. That inspired the name he chose for his capsule.

“I named my spacecraft Sigma 7,” he said. “Sigma, a Greek symbol for the sum of an equation, stands for engineering excellence. That was my goal – engineering excellence. I would not settle for less.”

‘She’s riding beautiful’

Astronaut Wally Schirra departs the transfer van at Launch Complex 14 on the morning of Oct. 3, 1962. He is accompanied by Gordon Cooper, his backup. During the ride from Hangar S to the pad, he was so relaxed he dozed off. Cooper had to wake him when they arrived. Photo credit: NASA

The Atlas rocket for Mercury 8 roared to life at 7:15 a.m. ET on Oct. 3, 1962 with Schirra talking to fellow astronaut Deke Slayton, the capsule communicator, known as capcom, in the Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral.

“I have the lift-off,” Schirra said. “She feels real nice. Ah, she’s riding beautiful, Deke.”

About 16 minutes after launch, Schirra was in orbit, passing over the Canary Island tracking station off the west coast of Africa.

“As far as I am concerned all control systems are (operating) perfect,” he reported.

Crossing over the Zanzibar tracking station on the east coast of Africa, Schirra noticed that he felt overheated. Engineers in Mission Control were in discussions with the flight surgeon over whether it was safe to continue or if the astronaut should land after only one orbit. By the time Schirra orbited over the tracking station in Muchea, Australia, the temperature in his spacesuit was still rising.

“The systems are all green,” he said. “My only problem area is the suit circuit, which I am monitoring very carefully.”

Schirra seemed unconcerned, but he described the heat as like “mowing a lawn in Texas.”

After selection of the seven Mercury astronauts, each took responsibility for monitoring development of the programs systems. Schirra became the expert in the capsule’s environmental control system and it paid off.

In the white room atop the Launch Complex 14 gantry at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now Space Force Station), Wally Schirra is assisted into his Sigma 7 spacecraft at 4:41 am ET on Oct. 3, 1962. Photo credit: NASA

“The life support system had to be designed just right,” he said. “Glenn had a hot suit circuit and Carpenter had a hot suit circuit. I had one for one orbit, but I knew what to do. There was a little water control valve — a little teeny, tiny valve — and you turned the valve very slowly to get the water to drip through this plumbing, through a heat exchanger.”

As Schirra passed over the tracking station in Guaymas, Mexico, he told astronaut Carpenter, the capcom there, there was no reason to end the fight early.

“I feel fine,” he said. “The suit inlet temperature is at about 78 (degrees). I think another cut at the controls will solve this problem. I’m fine. Let’s go.”

‘This old bird is really performing’

As Schirra flew near the end of his second orbit, astronaut Gus Grissom, the capcom at the Kauai, Hawaii, tracking station, reported that managers at Mission Control believed the suit problem was resolved and gave him permission to continue the flight.

*The Mercury-8 Atlas rocket lifts off with Wally Schirra and the Sigma 7 spacecraft at 7:15 a.m. on Oct. 3, 1962. Photo credit: NASA*

“Wally, Cape seems to think you’re in good shape,” he said.

“I feel fine,” Schirra responded. “This old bird is really performing up here.”

When Schirra began the third orbit, he disconnected the spacecraft’s gyroscopes, turned off part of the electrical power system, and let the capsule float without the automatic system or the astronaut constantly pointing the spacecraft.

“Once we got into orbit I realized I could take control of it,” he said. “I didn’t want this to be an automatic control (flight), so I drifted for three orbits.”

As he predicted, Schirra had plenty of maneuvering fuel at the end of the mission.

As Schirra prepared for his flight, he wanted to take photographs of the Earth with more clarity that those taken on earlier missions.

“I took the approach of an engineer rather than a sightseer,” he said. “So, I sought advice from professional photographers.”

*A photograph of the Earth shot with the modified Hasselblad camera. Photo credit: NASA/Wally Schirra*

Many recommended the Swedish-built Hasselblad camera. Schirra worked with NASA engineers to modify it with a 100-exposure film cartridge.

“We got some good pictures,” he said.

During the mission, he described Earth from space and captured many of the sights on film.

“Sunset is rather striking,” he said. “The lightning looks like a big blob, rather than a jagged streak we are used to seeing when Earthbound.”

While passing over a tracking ship in the Pacific Ocean during his sixth orbit, Schirra spoke with astronaut Alan Shepard, the capcom aboard. Just before firing his retro rockets to begin his descent, he expressed how pleased he was with the spacecraft’s performance.

“Sunlight's in my upper right hand corner of the window, just peeking in at me,” Wally Schirra said at four minutes into the flight. — *“Sunlight’s in my upper right hand corner of the window, just peeking in at me,” Wally Schirra said at four minutes into the flight. Photo credit: NASA.*

“Oh boy!,” he said. “She’s a good little capsule, I’ll clue you.”

While Sigma 7 was descending under its parachute, Grissom asked, “How do you feel?”

“I feel marvelous,” Schirra answered. “This was a beautiful flight, wasn’t it?”

The recovery aircraft carrier, the USS Kearsarge, picked up Sigma 7 on radar while it was about 200 miles from landing. It was the most precise to date, about one-half mile from the recovery ship.

After splashdown, Schirra radioed that he would prefer to stay aboard the spacecraft and be hoisted aboard the aircraft carrier.

Wally Schirra brought his Sigma 7 spacecraft to a splashdown about one-half mile from the recovery ship, the USS Kearsarge. It was the first time a Mercury capsule landed close enough to be photographed descending under the parachute. Photo credit: NASA

“I think I would prefer to stay in (the capsule) and have a ship pickup,” he said.

About 40 minutes after splashdown, Sigma 7 was aboard the Kearsarge and Schirra blew off the hatch, climbed out and waved to the ship’s crew.

The flight of Sigma 7 was well behind the four-day record set by cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev aboard the Soviet Union’s Vostok 3 flight in August 1962; nevertheless, Schirra’s goal of “engineering excellence” was achieved. Boynton and Fisher’s post-flight report stated that the mission was a technical success with all goals completed without significant malfunctions.

*Electing to stay aboard the spacecraft, the Sigma 7 with Wally Schirra aboard is hoisted aboard the recovery aircraft carrier, the USS Kearsarge. Photo credit: NASA*

“All objectives of the eighth Mercury-Atlas mission were accomplished and no malfunctions occurred which compromised the success of the mission,” their report stated. “The only anomaly which caused concern during the flight was an elevated suit temperature experienced in the first two hours after launch. However, the elevated temperature condition was adequately remedied through effective system monitoring and methodical control valve manipulation by the astronaut.”

Schirra succinctly summed up Project Mercury.

*Navy personnel on the USS Kearsarge assist Wally Schirra out of his Sigma 7 spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA*

“Mercury was the kickoff,” he said. “In Mercury, we proved man could do a lot more than a machine could do.”

Schirra went on to fly two more missions, becoming the only astronaut to complete flights in Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. In December 1965, he and astronaut Tom Stafford performed the world’s first space rendezvous during Gemini VI. They caught up with the already orbiting Gemini VII with astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell aboard. In October 1968, Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham spent 10 days in Earth orbit during Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission, paving the way for flights to the Moon.

Following Apollo 7, Schirra retired from NASA and the Navy, taking on numerous jobs in industry. He served as fellow commentator with Walter Cronkite on CBS News coverage of Apollo missions from 1969 to 1975. When the first lunar landing took place in July 1969, the pair were on the air describing the historic event.

A Hero’s Welcome

On Oct. 16, 1962, President John F. Kennedy talks with Wally Schirra, his wife Jo, his 12-year-old son, Marty and five-year-old daughter, Suzy, in the Oval Office of the White House. The president had just asked Suzy about her age. Kennedy appears relaxed, but minutes earlier he was shown the first U-2 spy plane photographs confirming that the Soviet Union was placing offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba. Photo credit: White House

While Schirra was in the final stages of preparing for his six-orbit Mercury 8 mission and flying in space, his wife, Jo, and two children were busy moving. NASA relocated its Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Johnson Space Center) from the Langley Research Center in Virginia to Houston. When NASA’s latest hero returned home, it was the Texas city’s first opportunity to welcome a returning astronaut.

Texas Gov. Price Daniel, Mayor Lewis Cutrer of Houston, NASA officials, fellow astronauts and local citizens were on hand to cheer his return at Ellenton Field near the new space center. All this was at about 1 a.m. in the morning. A celebration followed including a motorcade to his new house in the Timber Cove subdivision in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake.

Once home, other astronauts and their wives had a brief celebration with the last guest leaving close to 4 a.m. Schirra explains how his wife then brought him back to Earth.

“I was in my pajamas, ready for bed when Jo said, ‘Wally, will you please put out the garbage?’”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of feature articles marking the 60th anniversary of Project Mercury. Beginning with test flights in 1959 and culminating in America’s first human orbital space missions, the program proved astronauts could be launched into space, perform useful work and safely return. In May 2023, read about the first American to spend more than a day in space.