Theodore Freeman Theodore Cordy Freeman ( February 18 , 1930 – October 31 , 1964 ) was a NASA astronaut and a captain in the United States Air Force . He was killed in the crash of a T - 38 jet , marking the first fatality among the American astronaut corps . Freeman was born in Haverford , Pennsylvania , and completed his secondary education in 1948 . He attended the University of Delaware at Newark for one year , then entered the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree . In 1960 , he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan . Freeman was also a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics , and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots . Freeman graduated from both the Air Force ' s Experimental Test Pilot and Aerospace Research Pilot Courses . He elected to serve with the Air Force . His last Air Force assignment was as a flight test aeronautical engineer and experimental flight test instructor at the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert . He served primarily in performance flight testing and stability testing areas . He logged more than 3 , 300 hours flying time , including more than 2 , 400 hours in jet aircraft . Freeman was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963 . He was assigned the responsibility of aiding the development of boosters . On the morning of Saturday , October 31 , 1964 , Theodore Freeman was making a return flight from McDonnell - Douglas training facilities in St . Louis , MO . He was killed during final approach to landing at Ellington Air Force Base , Houston , Texas , when a goose flew into the port - side air intake of his NASA - modified T - 38 Talon jet trainer causing immediate engine failure . The bird strike was plainly observed by two airmen on duty in the Ellington AFB Air Traffic Control Tower Cab . Flying shards of Plexiglas may have entered the jet engine during the crash . Within seconds of the goose strike , the plane pancaked short of the base perimeter fence onto a public highway and caused the plane to immediately and violently lose structural integrity . The two observers did not witness any evidence of Freeman ejecting from the stricken aircraft , but it was too close to the ground for a parachute to open properly in any event . The two ( one E3 , one E4 ) airman witnesses were never questioned or consulted during the crash investigation . Freeman was survived by his wife Faith Clark Freeman and one daughter , Faith Huntington . Faith Freeman first heard of her husband ' s death when a reporter came to her house : NASA subsequently ensured that in the case of future astronaut deaths , their families were informed by other astronauts as quickly as possible . The Clear Lake City - County Freeman Branch Library of the Harris County Public Library and Houston Public Library systems is named in memory of Freeman . An artificial island off Southern California is also named for him . This is one of the four " Astronaut Islands " built in Long Beach Harbor during the late 1960s as unsinkable platforms for oil drilling ; the others were named Grissom , White and Chaffee , in honor of the astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire . Books . A family - approved account of Freeman ' s life and career appears in the 2003 book " Fallen Astronauts " by space historians Colin Burgess and Kate Doolan . Oriana Fallaci ' s " If the Sun Dies " , a book on the early days of the American space program , features an account of Freeman .