Former NASA astronaut Walter Cunningham, who piloted the Apollo 7 lunar module, the first manned flight of the US agency's Apollo Program, died in Houston (Texas) in the early hours of Tuesday at the age of 90.

"On Apollo 7, the first manned launch of the Apollo mission, Walter Cunningham and his companions made history, paving the way for the Artemis Generation we see today," explained NASA director Bill Nelson in a statement quoted by Lusa.

On October 11, 1968, Walter Cunningham piloted the 11-day Apollo 7 flight, the first manned test of the Apollo space project.

With Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Donn F. Eisele, he tested the manoeuvres necessary for docking in lunar orbit.

The crew successfully completed eight tests, according to NASA. The module crashed on October 22, 1968, in the Atlantic Ocean.

At NASA, Walter Cunningham directed the Skylab branch of the Flight Crew Directorate and retired from the space agency in 1971, where he continued to direct various technical and financial assignments.