White, Edward Higgins, 1930-1967

Edward Higgins White II (b. Nov. 14, 1930, San Antonio, Tex.-d. Jan. 27, 1967), Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and NASA astronaut, graduated from West Point in 1952 and from the Air Force Test Pilot School in 1959. He was assigned to a fighter squadron in Germany from 1954 to 1957, and was an experimental test pilot, fighter division, aeronautical systems division from 1960 to 1966. He became an astronaut in October 1962 and was appointed senior pilot, Apollo I; made a 4-day orbital flight in Gemini-Titan in June 1965; and became the first American to walk in space. He was killed in a training exercise at the Kennedy Space Center.

From the description of White, Edward Higgins, 1930-1967 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10574617