Edward Higgins White
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Edward Higgins White, II (November 14, 1930 - January 27, 1967) was an American astronaut.
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Physical Description
Weight: {176 lbs} Height: {5 '11} Hair: {Reddish Brown} Eyes: {Brown}
Early years
He was born in San Antonio, Texas and earned a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy in 1952, and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1959. He attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force and was a pilot of F-86's and F-100's. White was an experimental test pilot for the Aeronautical Systems Division and logeed more than 3,000 flight hours including 2,200 in a jet aircraft. He was married to Patricia Finegan White and had two children, Bonnie Lynn and Edward III.
NASA
He was chosen with the second group of astronauts in 1962. Within an already elite group White was considered a high-flyer by the NASA management. As pilot of Gemini 4 was the first American to make a spacewalk in 1965, and was backup command pilot for Gemini 7. White was also made Astronaut specialist for the flight control systems of the Apollo CSM. By the usual process of crew rotation in the Gemini programme, White would have been in line for a second orbital flight as Command Pilot of Gemini 10 - making him the first of his group to be selected to fly twice, but fatefully instead in 1966 was promoted to be command module pilot for the first Apollo program flight.
Death
He died with fellow astronauts Virgil Grissom and Roger Chaffee in the tragic Apollo 1 fire at NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida. He was buried with full military honours at West Point and posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Had he lived White would certainly have gone on to be Commander of a later Apollo mission and walk on the moon.
Legacy
Edward White Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida was named in his honor. Ed White Middle School in Huntsville, Alabama was named in his honor.