Edward Higgins White, II (Lt.Col , USAF) (November 14, 1930 – January 27, 1967) was a United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. On June 3 1965, he became the first American to conduct a spacewalk. White was killed during the Apollo 1 training accident and posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and was previously awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal for his Gemini 4 spaceflight.

Early years

He was born in San Antonio, Texas and earned a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy in 1952,^[1] 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 and F-100 fighter jets. White was an experimental test pilot for the Aeronautical Systems Division and logged more than 3,000 flight hours, including 2,200 in jet aircraft. He was married to Patricia Finegan White and had two children, Bonnie Lynn and Edward III.

NASA career

Edward White during EVA. He was the first American astronaut to perform a spacewalk, during the Gemini 4 mission.

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 program, 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 instead was promoted in 1966 to be command module pilot for the first fateful Apollo program flight AS-204.

Death

Crew photo, Apollo 1.

Apollo I mission insignia

Memorials

Earthbound

Schools

Many schools have been named in honor of Colonel White:

• Edward H. White Career Academyhttp://www.csc.cps.k12.il.us/servlet/SchoolDirectory?VIEW=DETAIL&SELECT=C83EACBB40B24B4786256C2C00500987 in Chicago
• Edward H. White Middle Schoolhttp://www.neisd.net/white/ in San Antonio, Texas
• Ed White Elementary Schoolhttp://www.ccisd.net/schools/schoolwebs/102/ in El Lago, Texas
• Ed White Memorial High Schoolhttp://www.bayareacharter.com/edwhitememorialhighschool.htm in League City, Texas
• Edward H. White Senior High Schoolhttp://www.dreamsbeginhere.org/edwhite/ in Jacksonville, Florida
• Ed White Middle School in Huntsville, Alabama, is named after him.^[2]
• Kemps Landing Magnet School in Virginia Beach, VA

Huntsville (Ala.) City Schools official site] (Huntsville, also known as "Rocket City" because it is a major center for space technology and rocket development, simultaneously named Roger B. Chaffee Elementary and Virgil I. Grissom High School for Colonel White's Apollo 1 crewmates.)

Others

• Edward White Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida was named in his honor.
• Edward H. White II Park in Fullerton, California is named for him.^[3] Fullerton has also named parks in honor of Chaffee and Grissom.
• An artificial island in Long Beach Harbor off Southern California is named for him.

In Space

• The star Iota Ursae Majoris was named "Dnoces" ("Second", as in "Edward Higgins White the Second", spelled backwards) in his honor.
• White Hill, 11.2 km (7.0 mi) northwest of Columbia Memorial Station on Mars, is named after him as part of the Apollo 1 Hills.

Philatelic

• Eight months after his death, in September, 1967, a postage stamp was issued by the United States Post Office, commemorating White's space walk, the first-ever by an American.^[4] It was the first time in USPO history that the design was actually spread over two stampshttp://marshallstar.msfc.nasa.gov/6-6-02.pdf (one which featured White, the other his Gemini capsule, the two connected by a tether), which was considered befitting the "twins" aspect of the Gemini mission. White's name did not appear on the stamps.

White in the movies

White was played by Steven Ruge in the 1995 film Apollo 13 and by Chris Isaak in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

Physical description

Weight: 176 lb (80 kg)
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Hair: Reddish Brown
Eyes: brown

References

Edward White II is profiled in the book "Fallen Astronauts" by Colin Burgess and Kate Doolan UNP 2003

External links

• NASA biography
• Astronaut Memorial Foundation website

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