Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. (March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American test pilot, United States Navy officer, and one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury, America's first effort to put humans in space. He is the only person to fly in all of America's first three space programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo). He logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space. Schirra was the fifth American and the ninth human to ride a rocket into space. He was the first person to go into space three times.