Wally Shirra, astronaut, dies at 84

From an article in the Guardian

``Mostly it's lousy out there,'' Schirra said in 1981 on the occasion of the first space shuttle flight. ``It's a hostile environment, and it's trying to kill you. The outside temperature goes from a minus 450 degrees to a plus 300 degrees. You sit in a flying Thermos bottle.'' . . . .

In one of his last interviews, last month with The Associated Press, Schirra said he was struck by the fragility of Earth and the absence of borders.

``I left Earth three times. I found no place else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth,'' he said.