Earth's Atmosphere and Beyond
Pioneer and Inovator
of Apollo I
Born November 14, 1930, in San Antonio, Texas. Ed received a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy, and a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan. He also received an honorary doctorate in astronautics from the University of Michigan. White and his wife, Patricia Finegan White, have two children, Edward and Bonnie Lynn.
Lieutenant Colonel White was a test pilot in the Air Force and in 1962 was selected by NASA to become an astronaut. He was selected as the pilot for Gemini 4, a 4-day mission that circled the earth 62 times. At that time Gemini 4 was the longest man mission in space and Lieutenant Colonel White was the first U.S. Astronaut to walk in space. He was also the first man to use jet propulsion to maneuver himself in space. He was subsequently selected to be the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 1.
Tragedy struck on the launch pad during a preflight rehearsal for Apollo 204, which was to have been the first manned Apollo mission, and would have been launched February 21, 1967. Edward H. White, II and two other astronauts Virgil Grissom and Roger Chafee lost their lives when fire swept through the Command Module. Because of the fire, extensive reworking of the Command Module design delayed a manned Apollo launch for over a year and a half. The Apollo 1 designation was given to the mission only after the fire. The AS-204 designation was later re-assigned to an unmanned test flight. Edward H. White made the ultimate sacrifice and lost his life in service to the nation and the space program on January 27, 1967, at 36 years of age.
References:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/white-eh.html
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/zorn/white.htm
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/white/
http://www.dominantstar.com/b_white.htm
http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/white.htm
http://www.spacefame.org/white.html
Designed by: Sherrie Searcy