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Stafford was assigned along with Wally Schirra to Gemini 6.

With command pilot Walter M. Schirra Jr. and navigator Donn F. Eisele, Mr. Cunningham spent 11 days in space, orbiting Earth 163 times before safely splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.

Neither Mr. Cunningham nor Schirra nor Eisele would fly in future space flights, a source of sadness for Mr. Cunningham.

Eisele died at 57 in 1987 of a heart attack, and Schirra died at 84 in 2007.

The extraordinary flight was marred by the most ordinary of inconveniences — the common cold — which first afflicted Schirra and then Eisele.