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Edward Higgins (Ed) White II Status: Deceased. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Pilot. Sex: Male. Marital Status: Married. Children: Two. Birth Date: 14 November 1930. Birth City: San Antonio. Birth State: Texas. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Date of Death: 27 January 1967. Cause of Death: Killed in Apollo 1 fire on launch pad. Group: 1962 NASA Group. Date Selected: 17 September 1962. Departed: 1967. Number of Flights: 1. Total Time: 4.08 days. Number of EVAs: 1. Total EVA Time: 0.60 hours.

NAME: Edward H. White II

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: White was born November 14, 1930, in San Antonio, Texas.

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy in 1952. Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan in 1959., Honorary Doctorate in Astronautics from the University of Michigan in 1965.

EDUCATION: White received flight training in Florida and Texas, then spent three years in Germany with an Air Force fighter squadron, flying F-86 and F-100 fighter-bombers. In 1959 he attended the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and later was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, as experimental test pilot with the Aeronautical System Division.

NASA selected White as an astronaut in 1962. He and Commander James A. McDivitt were assigned to the four-day Gemini 4 mission that launched on June 3, 1965. On the first day of the flight, White made America�s first spacewalk, a 21-minute EVA during which he manoeuvred on the end of a 25-foot tether using a hand-held gas gun. During the remainder of the flight, McDivitt and White completed twelve scientific and medical experiments.

White and fellow Apollo 1 astronauts, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, died in a spacecraft fire during a launch pad test on Jan. 27, 1967.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Air Force Commendation Medal; NASA Exceptional Service Medal; Arnold Air Society JFK Trophy for 1966; Air Force Systems Command Aerospace Primus Club Award; General Thomas D. White United States Air Force Space Trophy for 1965; selected one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of America in 1965.


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