The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
White, Edward Higgins, 2d
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.
