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Walter Cunningham (1932–2023)

Author of The All-American Boys

1+ Work 98 Members 2 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Walter Cunningham is perhaps best known as America's second civilian astronaut. He flew in space on Apollo 7, the first manned flight of the Apollo Program, and was Chief of the Skylab Branch of the Astronaut Office. After graduating from high school, Cunningham joined the U.S. Navy. He became a show more Marine Corps fighter pilot in 1953, serving on active duty until 1956, and in the Marine Corps Reserve until retiring with the rank of colonel. Cunningham accumulated more than 4,500 hours of flying time and 263 hours in space. Following graduation from the Advance Management Program at Harvard, Cunningham became a successful businessman, venture capitalist and director of numerous public and private companies. He is a civic leader, and is a recipient of numerous national and international honors. he is a radio talk show host and frequent lecturer throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia show less

Includes the name: Walt Cunningham

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Photo created by NASA)

Works by Walter Cunningham

The All-American Boys (1977) 98 copies, 2 reviews
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Associated Works

In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969 (2007) — Foreword, some editions — 109 copies, 4 reviews
The Story of Shadow the Rock Wallaby (1983) — Illustrator, some editions — 21 copies
Digit Dick on the Great Barrier Reef (1978) — Illustrator, some editions — 19 copies
The story of Sarli,: The barrier reef turtle; (1978) — Illustrator, some editions — 18 copies
The Race to the Moon Chronicled in Stamps, Postcards, and Postmarks A Story of Puffery vs. the Pragmatic (2018) — Foreword — 11 copies
Bluecap and Bimbi the blue wrens (1975) — Illustrator, some editions — 6 copies
Off to Town — Illustrator — 2 copies

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2 reviews
nwhyte5,966 reviews
All American Boys, An Insider's Look at the U.S. Space Program by Walter Cunningham
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/all-american-boys-an-insiders-look-at-the-u-s-sp...

This was the third of three astronaut memoirs that I got in 2020, the first two being Michael Collins’ superb Carrying the Fire and Al Worden’s entertaining Falling to Earth. I would rank All American Boys between the other two. There are some very good parts. The book starts with the Apollo 1 fire, in which three of Cunningham’s friends and colleagues died horribly; and then it backtracks to become more show more of a social history of the US space programme, looking very much at the human side of the astronauts of the time, warts, sex, and all. Cunningham himself flew only one flight, Apollo 7, the first after the Apollo 1 disaster, but shares his pride in everything that the Apollo programme (and before it the Mercury and Gemini programmes) achieved, and reflects a bit on what being an astronaut meant at the peak of his career.

The last section of the book, added in 2003 after the original publication in 1977, is about what has Gone Wrong with NASA since the glory days, and is rather relentlessly Grumpy Old Man, railing against various targets such as political correctness in hiring, and Washington’s obsession with keeping the Russian space programme afloat. Even this has some fascinating moments – I had forgotten about the horrifying near-disaster of Soyuz 5, for instance. But Cunningham slightly loses the run of himself and vents personal grievances without much supporting evidence.

Anyway, most of it is well worth reading. show less
May 18, 20251 other review
takenn0121 reviews
The All-American Boys by Walter Cunningham
School Library Journal Sep. 1, 2015
Jun 27, 20171 other review

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