White Ii, Edward

Born Nov. 14,1930, in San Antonio, Texas; died Jan. 27,1967, on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral), Fla. US astronaut and pilot; lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force.

White graduated from the US Military Academy in 1952. In 1959 he was awarded a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan. He received his flight training in the US Air Force while stationed in Florida and Texas. In 1959 he graduated from the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base (California) and then served at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio). In 1962 he became an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

On June 3,1965, White, as copilot, and J. McDivitt undertook a spaceflight in the spacecraft Gemini 4. In the course of the flight, he completed a 20-minute space walk, moving with the aid of a manual jet device. During this mission, which ended June 7, he logged 95 hr 56 min and flew a distance of about 2.6 million km.

White was chosen to be a crew member of the first Apollo spacecraft but perished during the ground tests of the craft in a fire that broke out in the command module. A crater on the far side of the moon has been named after White.