White, Edward Higgins, II (1930-1967), in 1965 became the first United States astronaut to leave his craft while in outer space. The spacewalk lasted 21 minutes and took place on June 3, 1965, during a four-day flight made by White and James A. McDivitt. White and astronauts Virgil Grissom and Roger Chaffee died on Jan. 27, 1967, when a flash fire swept through their Apollo spacecraft. The fire occurred during a test at Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral), Florida.
White was born on Nov. 14, 1930, in San Antonio. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1952 and went into the Air Force. In 1959, he earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan.
