Links: CBC News Article / W. Schirra Jr. Bio /

Walter Schirra Jr. was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. He also flew on in all three of NASA's early space programs (Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo).

While I never personally met Wally Schirra, I know that with his death a bit of history has been lost -- as every person no matter how much they teach, write, or speak can ever pass on all the knowledge that they would wish. He was a part of the movement to open space for all humanity and for that he'll always have a place in history.

Some additional links:
Wikipedia Entry
Walter Schirra's website