Elliot Lake

Elliot Lake

Country:	United States United States
Organization:	NASA
selected on	September 17, 1962 ( 2nd NASA Group )
retired on	February 28, 1966 Death in plane crash

Elliot McKay See (born July 23, 1927 in Dallas , Texas , † February 28, 1966 in St. Louis , Missouri ) was an American astronaut of the Gemini program . He died in a plane crash before making his first space flight with Gemini 9 .

Start of career

Elliot See studied at the Academy of the American Merchant Navy and at the University of California in Los Angeles . From 1949 he worked for the General Electric Company, among other things as a test pilot. In 1953 he went to the Navy as a pilot until he returned to General Electric in 1956, where he flew the types Starfighter and Northrop T-38 , among others .

NASA

See applied to NASA and was introduced to the public on September 17, 1962 as a member of the second astronaut group. See was one of the two civilians in the group of nine, the other was Neil Armstrong .

See received his first assignment for a space flight on February 8, 1965, when he was assigned as a reserve pilot for the Gemini 5 mission in August 1965. On November 8, 1965, he was then nominated as commander of the Gemini 9 mission .

During the flights of Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 in December 1965, he served as a liaison officer ( Capcom ) from the flight control center in Houston .

On February 28, 1966, the main and reserve crews of Gemini 9 flew in two two-seat T-38 Talons to St. Louis to McDonnell , the manufacturer of the Gemini spaceships. See was piloting one plane and had Charles Bassett as co-pilot with him. In poor visibility, See missed the runway , grazed a building and crashed. See and Bassett died instantly.

Private

See left a wife and three children. His name is also listed on the metal plate of the Fallen Astronaut , the only work of art on the moon.

Web links

Commons : Elliot See - collection of images, videos and audio files

NASA: Biography of Elliot M. See, Jr. (English)
spacefacts.de: Short biography

Individual evidence

↑ Astronaut groups 1 and 2 . NASA website. Retrieved August 27, 2012.

personal data
SURNAME	See, Elliot
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	See, Elliot McKay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American astronaut of the Gemini program
DATE OF BIRTH	July 23, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dallas , Texas
DATE OF DEATH	February 28, 1966
Place of death	St. Louis , Missouri

[1] Astronaut groups 1 and 2 . NASA website. Retrieved August 27, 2012.