| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| White, Edward Higgins, 2d |
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| 1930–67, American astronaut, b. San Antonio. While serving as pilot of Gemini 4 (June 3–7, 1965), he became the first American to perform extravehicular activity. He had been selected to be command-module pilot for the first manned Apollo flight, but was killed with crewmates Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Roger Chaffee on Jan. 27, 1967, when a fire occurred in the space capsule during a preflight ground test. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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