Edward Higgins White

Edward Higgins "Ed" White II (November 14, 1930 – January 27, 1967) was an American test pilot and astronaut. He was the first American to take a "spacewalk," leaving the safety of his spaceship while in space and moving around outside in a spacesuit.

On June 3, 1965, White flew into space as pilot of Gemini 4. This was the second trip by astronauts in NASA's Project Gemini. White was able to get out of his spaceship in outer space, an activity called a spacewalk, then get back in and come home. (The Soviet Union had already done that earlier in the same year.) The trip lasted until June 7, 1965.

White died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (then known as Cape Kennedy), Florida.

References

Other websites

NASA Biography
Spacefacts biography of Ed White
NYTimes article

Category:1930 births
Category:1967 deaths
Category:Accidental deaths in the United States
Category:American astronauts
Category:American aviators
Category:Engineers from Texas
Category:American Methodists
Category:American colonels
Category:Military people from Texas
Category:Scientists from San Antonio, Texas