1966 NASA T-38 crash
On February 28, 1966, a NASA Northrop T-38 Talon crashed at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, killing two Project Gemini astronauts, Elliot See and Charles Bassett. The aircraft, piloted by See, crashed into the McDonnell Aircraft building where their Gemini 9 spacecraft was being assembled. The weather was poor with rain, snow, fog, and low clouds. A NASA panel, headed by the Chief of the Astronaut Office, Alan Shepard, investigated the crash. While the panel considered possible medical issues or aircraft maintenance problems, in addition to the weather and air traffic control factors, the end verdict was that the crash was caused by pilot error.
Astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 28, 1966, 8:58 am CST |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | McDonnell Aircraft Building 101, adjacent to Lambert Field, near St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. 38°45′14″N 90°20′42″W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Northrop T-38 Talon |
| Registration | NASA 901 |
| Flight origin | Ellington Air Force Base, Texas |
| Destination | Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri |
| Occupants | 2 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 2 |
| Survivors | 0 |
In the aftermath of the crash, the backup crew of Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan were moved up to the primary position for the Gemini 9 mission, scheduled for early June. Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin, who had formerly been the backup crew for Gemini 10, became the mission's backup crew and through the normal rotation were assigned as prime crew for Gemini 12. Without the Gemini experience, it is unlikely that Aldrin would have been assigned to the Apollo 11 mission, during which he became the second person to walk on the Moon.