NASA Chooses Walter Schirra for Six-Orbit Journey in September
June 27, 1962 - NASA announced today that the next man-in-space flight would be a six-orbit journey with Comdr. Walter M. Schirra Jr. (pictured) as pilot. The nine-hour flight is scheduled for September. Unlike the two earlier, three-orbit flights, the September flight will end in the Pacific rather than the Atlantic. The landing area will be near Midway Island, some 1,150 miles northwest of Hawaii. NASA officials explained that Project Mercury leaders wanted the longer missi