United States: The US astronaut Mr. Walter Cunningham, the last surviving member of the first Nasa mission to ever broadcast live TV from orbit, has died at the age of 90.

Mr. Cunningham joined NASA’s human spaceflight program as a member of its third astronaut class in 1963, making him one of the agency’s earliest members. The US astronaut was selected to pilot Apollo 7, the first crewed mission of the NASA program that went on to land humans on the moon for the first time.

The US space agency confirmed Mr. Cunningham’s death, and stated that “the astronaut was instrumental to our Moon landing’s program success.”

“We would like to express our immense pride in the life that he lived, and our deep gratitude for the man that he was – a patriot, an explorer, pilot, astronaut, husband, brother, and father,” the Cunningham family shared in a statement released by NASA.

The astronaut was born in Creston and received a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree with distinction in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Cunningham was one of three astronauts chosen for the first manned spaceflight in the Apollo program while working as a civilian at the time.

The Apollo 7 mission was launched in 1968 and lasted for roughly 11 days, sending the crew into orbit as a test flight that could demonstrate the Apollo capsule’s ability to rendezvous with another spacecraft in orbit and pave the way for future exploration in space. According to NASA, it was also notable for featuring in the first live TV broadcast of Americans from space.

Cunningham was the last surviving member of the Apollo 7 crew, which also included astronauts Mr. Wally Schirra and Mr. Donn Eisele.

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