New Nine (1962)
Ed White
First American to walk in space; lost in the Apollo 1 fire.
Ed White became the first American to walk in space on Gemini IV in June 1965, floating on a golden tether for 23 minutes and calling his return to the capsule ‘the saddest moment of my life.’ A West Point graduate and Air Force test pilot, he was among the most physically gifted of the early astronauts.
White was selected as senior pilot for the first crewed Apollo mission. He died with Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire on January 27, 1967 — a loss that reshaped the program’s engineering culture.