Clifton Williams

This article covers the astronaut; for the composer of the same name, see Clifton Williams (composer) .

Clifton Williams
Country:	United States
Organization:	NASA
selected on	October 17, 1963 (3rd NASA Group)
retired on	October 1967 (accident)

Clifton Curtis "CC" Williams, Jr. (born September 26, 1932 in Mobile , Alabama , USA ; † October 5, 1967 in Tallahassee , Florida ) was an American test pilot and astronaut .

Williams, who received his Bachelor of Science degree in construction engineering from Auburn University in 1954 , served a major as a test pilot in the United States Marine Corps .

Williams applied to NASA and was introduced to the public on October 17, 1963, along with 13 others as NASA's third astronaut group. His training began in February 1964. Among other things, he was responsible for the instrumentation of the capsules and safety equipment.

He received his first assignment for a space flight in June 1965 as a liaison officer ( Capcom ) for the Gemini 4 mission , during which Edward White undertook the first American space exit.

On March 21, 1966, he was nominated as a substitute pilot for the Gemini 10 space flight , which took place in June of that year. If Michael Collins had failed, Williams would have made the third American space exit.

For the flight of Gemini 11 in September 1966, Williams was again the liaison speaker.

Williams during the Gemini 3 mission

After that, Williams was assigned to the Apollo program and trained as a lunar module pilot. On December 22, 1966, NASA announced the planned crew of the second and third Apollo flight known provisionally under the names Mission D and Mission E ran. Williams formed the reserve team for Mission E together with Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon . All plans were put on hold after the Apollo 1 disaster on January 27, 1967.

Williams was killed in a plane crash when the controls on his T-38 stopped responding. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Williams left behind his wife Jane and daughter Catherine. The second daughter, Jane Dee, was not born until after his death.

Alan Bean took his place in Pete Conrad's team . Conrad, Gordon and Bean later became the substitute crew for Apollo 9 and carried out the second moon landing with Apollo 12 in November 1969 . They had four stars on their mission badge: three for the crew members, the fourth for Clifton Williams.

Web links

Commons : Clifton Williams  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Short biography of Clifton Williams at spacefacts.de
• NASA biography of Clifton Williams (PDF)
• Biography of Clifton Williams in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)