Schirra retired from the Navy as a captain and
resigned from NASA on July 1, 1969, to become president of Regency
Investors Incorporated, a major financial complex and worldwide
leasing company based in Denver, Colorado. From 1970 to 1973, he was
chairman and chief executive officer of Environmental Control
Company (ECCO), based in Englewood, Colorado. From 1973 to 1974, he
was chairman of the board of SERNCO Incorporated, and for the next
three years he was a director at Johns-Manville Corporation in
Denver, Colorado. From 1978 to 1979, he was vice president for
development at Goodwin Companies Incorporated in Littleton,
Colorado.
In January 1979 he formed his own
firm, Schirra Enterprises, and he worked as an independent
consultant in 1979 and 1980. In 1980, he was elected to the board of
directors of Electromedics Incorporated. He has also served as
president of Prometheus, an energy development company in Colorado,
and on the board of directors of Kimberly Clark, Finalco and Net Air
International. In 1984, he and the other surviving Mercury
astronauts and Gus Grissom's widow, Betty Grissom, founded the
Mercury Seven Foundation to raise money for scholarships for science
and engineering students in college. In 1995, the organization was
renamed the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Schirra is currently a
private consultant in Rancho Santa Fe, California, a public speaker
and a television commercial spokesman for Actifed, the cold remedy
he took on Apollo 7.
Schirra received numerous honors and awards while
in the service of the United States Navy and NASA including;
honorary Doctorate of Astronautical Engineering from Lafayette
College; honorary Doctorate of Astronautics from the Newark College
of Engineering; and an honorary Doctorate of Science from the
University of Southern California. He is a fellow in the American
Astronautical Society and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots; a
member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and
American Fighter Pilots Association; a 33rd Degree Mason;
director of the Rocky Mountain Airways; on the Department of the
Interior Advisory Board on National Parks, Historical Sites and
Monuments; a member of the Honorary Belgian Consul of Colorado; and
director of Electromedics, Colorado, and Watt County, Nashville,
Tennessee.
He has received three Distinguished Flying
Crosses; two Air Medals; two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two
NASA Exceptional Service Medals; the Navy Distinguished Service
Medal; Navy Astronaut Wings; the National Aeronautic Association (NAA)
Robert J. Collier Trophy in 1963; Newark College of Engineering
Alumnus Award; Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) Iven C.
Kincheloe Award; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
(AIAA) Award in 1963; American Astronautical Society (AAS) Flight
Achievement Award in 1966; Kitty Hawk Award; Great American Award;
Golden Key Award; American Rocket Society (ARS) Astronautics Award
in 1963; and Harmon International Aviation Trophy for 1966. He was
inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, on
July 26, 1986.
"It's
interesting because we couldn't see the borders of the
different countries. I'm always amazed at how
geopoliticians made those borders - rulers meaning
dictators, kings or politicians - and apparently we the
humans have gone along with it." - Wally Schirra
"After Herschel's [John Glenn] second
flight on STS-95 in 1998, I was often asked if I would
like to fly on a future space shuttle mission. My reply was, 'No, I'm
not old enough - anyway, if I were to fly again on a
Shuttle mission, I wouldn't want to ride in the back,
I'd want the Command. Plus, I don't know if I'd want to
face the death risk - Jo [Wally's wife] would probably
kill me!' " - Wally Schirra
