Together with two colleagues, Walt Cunningham flew the very first Apollo mission. His mission was no piece of cake. With Apollo 7, he had to test an entirely new spacecraft. The ship that humans would use to land on the moon a year later. Walt was pilot of the lunar lander. But that lunar lander was not yet ready when Apollo 7 was launched on 11 October 1968. Fortunately, he had plenty to do during the test flight. Among other things, Walt tested the Apollo service module's engine, the spacecraft's controls and he made the first live television broadcast from space. After 263 hours, his mission was over and he landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Did you know this about Walt? - Like Rusty Schweickart, Walt was selected by NASA in 1963 as a member of the third group of astronauts. - Before becoming an astronaut, he was a pilot in the US Navy. He flew over 50 night combat missions in Korea. - After his astronaut career, he worked as a director in business. He was also an investor and advisor to new companies. - In 1977, he published the book The All-American Boys. In it, he wrote about the extraordinary life and work of American astronauts. - In the early years of space travel, many astronauts were military. Walt was the second non-military to fly to space after Neil Armstrong. - Apart from being a physicist, astronaut and businessman, Walt was also a radio presenter, writer and he had the papers to be a real estate agent in the state of Texas.