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Ed WHITE

PROFILE

Full Name:

Edward Higgins WHITE II.

Rank:

Lieutenant-Colonel, USAF (Deceased).

Born:

14 November 1930, in San Antonio, Texas, USA (American).

Died:

27 January 1967, during a fire in the Apollo 1 Command Module, LC34, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. He was aged 36.

Education:

1952: BSc degree from West Point Military Academy.

 

1959: MSc degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Career Highlights:

1948-52: Attended West Point Military Academy; (1952) graduated with BSC degree and commissioned Second Lieutenant.

 

1952-54: Completed 13-month pilot training course in Florida and Texas.

 

Apr 1954-1958: Assigned to 22nd Fighter Day Squadron, Bitburg Air Base, West Germany; completed a 3½-year tour flying F-86 and F-100 fighter aircraft.

 

1958-59: Entered the University of Michigan under the Air Forcce Institute of Technology Program; (1959) graduated with a Master's degree.

 

1959-62: Attended Air Force Test Program, Edwards AFB, California, for advanced aviation training; (Jul) graduated;

Transferred to Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio, where he served as an experimental test pilot as well as a weightlessness- and extended-flight-training captain for the Aeronautical Systems Division.

 

During his career, White logged over 3,000 hours flying time with the USAF, including about 2,200 hrs in jets.

 

 

NASA ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS

1962:

(17 Sep) Selected as one of the nine astronauts chosen by NASA for Group 2 ("The Next Nine"); (1 Oct) reported to MSC, Houston; began academic training.

1963:

(26 Jan) Received a technical assignment in flight control systems; (6 Feb) completed formal academic training.

1964:

(8 Jul) Assigned to Apollo Branch Office under Gordon Cooper; (27 Jul) named as Pilot, Gemini 4; (  ) re-assigned to Gemini Branch Office under Virgil 'Gus' Grissom; Gemini mission training.

1965:

Gemini mission training; (3-7 Jun) flew as Pilot Gemini 4 (4 days 1 hr 56 min); first American to walk in space; 1 EVA (3 Jun) 21 min; (1 Jul) named BUp Command Pilot Gemini 7; Gemini mission training; (Dec) BUp Command Pilot Gemini 7; (late) moved to Apollo training, joining Grissom's crew as a replacement for the injured Donn Eisele.

1966:

Preliminary Apollo Block I training; (21 Mar) named Senior Pilot Apollo 1 (AS-204); Apollo mission training.

1967:

Apollo mission training; (27 Jan) killed in the Apollo 1 pad fire along with colleagues Grissom and Roger Chaffee; (31 Jan) buried at West Point Cemetery.

 

 
Ed White

Ed WHITE Space Flight Missions

Mission

Vehicle

Position

Dates

DD/MM/YY

Duration

DD:HH:MM:SS

Orbits

EVAs

(HH:MM)

Gemini 4

Titan II

Pilot

03/06/1965-07/06/1965

04:01:56:12

62

1 (00:21)

      

Missions Flown:

1

Total Flight Time:

04:01:56:12

62

1 (00:21)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Space Explorer Achievements

First American astronaut to perform an EVA (spacewalk; Gemini 4, 3 June 1965)
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This profile is copyright Astro Info Service Limited, 2026

All images are courtesy of NASA, unless otherwise stated.
Gemini 4 Pilot Ed White is photgraphed during a simulation exercise for the mission, in the month before the launch.
Although he made only one space flight before tragedy struck, it was a mission of historical significance. On 3 June 1965 during Gemini 4, White became the first American astronaut to conduct an EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity or spacewalk), manoeuvring outside the spacecraft for just over 20 minutes in Earth orbit.
Before moving on to Apollo, White served in back-up role for the two-week Gemini 7 mission in December 1965. Pictured here (l to r) are the Prime crew of Jim Lovell (Pilot) and Frank Borman (Command Pilot) and the Back-Up crew of Mike Collins (Pilot) and Ed White (Command Pilot).
The Apollo 1 prime crew is seen suited up aboard the NASA Motor Vessel Retriever in preparation for water egress training in the Gulf of Mexico in October 1966.
(l to r) White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee.