Lt. Colonel Edward Higgins White, II, born November 14, 1930, was an engineer, United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. On June 3, 1965, he became the first American to conduct a space walk. White was killed along with fellow mission astronauts during a training exercise and pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at the Kennedy Space Center. White was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and was previously awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal for his Gemini 4 space flight.

 

 Lt. Colonel Edward White