Wally Schirra dreamed of being a firefighter, but he became an astronaut. In 1959, he was one of the first seven American astronauts selected by NASA. When a journalist asked him, "Who thinks they'll come back alive from space?", he raised both hands. The first to successfully complete a space rendezvous, he amused Houston by reporting a "red UFO" that he said was Santa's sleigh in December 1965. The only astronaut to have flown on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, Wally Schirra recounts his incredible space adventure with humor and passion, a privileged witness to one of the greatest epics of the 20th century.