Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts who embraced the Star Trek community, passed away early this morning at the age of 84. He suffered a heart attack and died at a hospital in La Jolla, Calif., a suburb of San Diego, according to the Associated Press.

Schirra had the unique distinction of being the only astronaut to fly on all three of the NASA's pioneering space programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

Last year on his 83rd birthday, March 12, Schirra visited the Grand Slam convention in Pasadena to tell Trek fans of his experiences in the space program and to sign autographs (related story). Among his stories was one about his encounter with the creator of Star Trek: "I was on a commercial flight with Gene Roddenberry sitting in the next seat. I said, 'Mr. Roddenberry, why did you beam those people up and down like that?' 'I couldn't figure out any other way to do it!' That was his exact answer." And when he mentioned he had been in the Apollo program, Roddenberry suddenly recognized him as Wally Schirra and was very excited to meet him.

He also called for stronger support for the space program. "We have to have a national commitment to doing something like going back to the Moon or on to Mars. It can't be just a little amateur hour."

Schirra's NASA career began with his selection as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959 and spans the period from America's first tentative steps into space to the Moon missions. He was the third American to orbit the Earth in October 1962 on the fifth Mercury flight (Alan Shephard and Gus Grissom had flown suborbital flights, while John Glenn and Scott Carpenter previously made full orbits). "I'm having a ball up here drifting," Schirra said from space, and at the end of his sixth orbit, he piloted the capsule for a perfect splashdown in the Pacific.

He commanded Gemini 6A in 1965, a flight with Tom Stafford that had the historic distinction of being the first rendezvous of two manned, maneuverable spacecraft. Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 flew in formation for five hours, as close as one foot to one another.

Schirra never personally made it to the Moon, but he commanded the Apollo 7 mission — the first manned Apollo flight — in 1968 which tested the Apollo systems and blazed the trail for subsequent journeys to Earth's closest neighbor.

When Schirra left NASA in 1969, he had logged 295 hours, 154 minutes in space. He worked for CBS from 1969 to 1975 as a commentator, complementing Walter Cronkite in his coverage of the space program. His enthusiasm and knowledge made him a popular international figure.

Schirra was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1923. His father was a World War I fighter pilot and his mother was a "barnstormer" at county fairs, sometimes standing on the wing of a biplane during flights. Schirra took his first flight with his father at age 13 and already knew how to fly when he entered the U.S. Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1945. He later flew F-86 Sabres in the Korean War. Schirra was inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 2000, among many other military awards and honorary doctorates.

There are only two of the "Original Seven" still alive: Scott Carpenter and John Glenn. Another, L. Gordon Cooper (d. 2004), was memorialized last weekend when his cremated remains were shot into space on the same flight as James Doohan (related story).

Schirra is survived by his wife Josephine, daughter Suzanne and son Walter Schirra III.

Visit the link below for the NASA obituary.