Aircraft Accidents

Ten astronauts have lost their lives in aircraft accidents either while training for or performing a spaceflight. NASA astronauts Theodore Freeman, Charles Bassett II, Elliot See, and Clifton Williams, Jr. were killed in T-38 accidents in the mid-1960s. U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory astronaut Robert Lawrence was killed in 1964 when his F-104 crashed. Michael Adams was killed when his X-15 was destroyed after achieving an altitude high enough to earn astronaut wings in 1967. The first person in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, was killed in 1968 while training in a MiG-15. U.S. Air Force astronaut John McKay died in 1975 from complications resulting from his X-15 accident 12 years prior to his death. Stephen Thorne died in a 1986 plane crash. And Manley Carter, Jr. died when Atlantic Southeast Aitlines flight 2311 crashed in 1991.

Please see their full biographies for more information.