The Gemini 9 Disaster | 1966 NASA T-38 crash
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The 1966 NASA T-38 crash occurred when a NASA Northrop T-38 Talon crashed at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 28, 1966, 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.
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My mother worked in public relations at NASA when this happened. Although I was only 2 at the time, I've heard the story many times. It affected my mother greatly, she had worked with and knew all the members of the astronaut corps fairly well. Well done, Alex. (BTW: _Houston)_
My parents knew these men. My father flew with them before they moved on to NASA, and my mother knew them from her work at various flight test projects as well as through my father.
Godspeed, gentleman. Your names are remembered.
RIP Elliot M See Jr and Charles Bassett 😥😥😢😢
He should do the Uberlingen disaster
They were too young to die, rest in peace
Really well done and sensitively addressed, Allec.
David P., yes. This was so tragic. I dont understand why they were allowed to fly in such awful weather. As a flight attendant for United, I had the pleasure of having Sen. and Mrs. John Glen on 2 of my flights. Nicest people ever. So impressed and thrilled to meet one of my childhood heroes!
Excellent video as always. This accident was literally a matter of inches. The T-38 See was flying grazed the roof of the assembly building, losing a wing in the process. It's believed See ejected but the Talon was inverted and he suffered massive trauma when he impacted the ground. Bassett's injuries were much more gruesome. As the plane inverted over the roof of the massive assembly building, the cockpit was open due to See's ejection and Bassett was decapitated, his head lodging in the high rafters of the building and was discovered later in the day. McDonnell workers watched in horror at their posts as the sheet metal roof over their heads opened up in flames. Had the T-38 struck the side of the building, a difference of perhaps a foot and a half, investigators theorized the plane would have struck the assembly line destroying both the Gemini 9 and 10 spacecraft and killing hundreds of highly skilled McDonnell workers. It would have certainly changed the direction and timeline of the early space program. Deke Slayton wrote in his autobiography that See was the only astronaut who possessed, in his mind, questionable flying skills. The Talon was very demanding and required aggressive flying. Slayton viewed See as too cautious and restrained to fly it well and reliably. He stated he paired him with Bassett, a pilot Deke respected more, out of caution as he felt sorry for See who he viewed as the runt of the second astronaut class...The New Nine.
WOW!
Sir, you are an excellent writer. Your info on this tragedy is a perfect addition to the video. Bravo. Much appreciated.
See was originally penciled in as the co pilot on Gemini 8 with Neil Armstrong, but Slayton felt that See wasn't physically fit enough for the EVA scheduled for that mission, so he was replaced by Dave Scott. See was, in effect, "demoted" to the command seat of Gemini 9.
MrCrystalcranium why See was selected in first place seems hard to fathom...
A terrible tragedy. RIP all the heroes of the new frontier!!
Well done Alec, on introducing a little known incident in NASA history that had a major impact on crew assignments for the remainder of the manned lunar program. Great presentation!
It was also the Apollo 1 fire and the death of 3 astronauts that had an impact on crew assignments.
Very saddening, this is proof that CFIT can happen to even the very best pilots
Pl)a]
Indeed
In years of handling 1,000-lb + castor-wheeled carts loaded with steel parts in a shop I learned how much energy is required to get something that heavy to change direction. Now imagine the energy required to get an 11,820 lb aircraft to change direction. Newton's First Law of Motion is a harsh mistress.
He should have been able to land the craft. It was preventable.. over confidence kills
Complacency.
NASA may not have altered their spaceflight plan, but this one event changed a LOT of astronauts lives - especially Cernan, Aldrin, and Lovell.
More chilling to think about is how Chaffee, Grissom, and White may have been doomed by the subsequent crew shuffling. Life is interesting, man...
They had already been chosen months before this incident; Grissom and White were pulled from the Gemini flight rotation after their flights.
Elliot See's wife Marilyn See left Houston a year later, after "a year of dirty looks and hushed silences," the book Astronauts' Wives' Club said.
@@brianarbenz7206 why did they treat her like that?
It looks in the book like some of it was feelings about Elliott’s flying skills and some was tradition in military circles that widows left quickly after a death.
@@dalethelander3781 Author Topic: Question For Michael Cassutt (Read 229 times)
Online JoeFromRIUSA
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Question For Michael Cassutt
« on: 08/09/2021 08:51 pm »
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For the last time and to settle another raging You Tube "discussion" : Did the absolute original Apollo 204 crew consist of Virgil I Grissom, Edward Higgins White, and Donald (What's His Name) Eisele?
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« Reply #1 on: 08/09/2021 10:13 pm »
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Quote from: JoeFromRIUSA on 08/09/2021 08:51 pm
For the last time and to settle another raging You Tube "discussion" : Did the absolute original Apollo 204 crew consist of Virgil I Grissom, Edward Higgins White, and Donald (What's His Name) Eisele?
Yes. I screwed it up in DEKE! because a passing comment from Slayton made me think he originally had the 204 crew as Grissom, Eisele, Chaffee, with White coming in to replace Eisele. But other folks over the years, INCLUDING SCHIRRA, make it clear that the original 204 crew was Grissom, White, Eisele, with some astronauts informed as early as November 1965. But Eisele wound up having to have surgery for a dislocated shoulder, so Slayton slid him to the next crew and moved Chaffee to Grissom's.
And just to be that guy, it's Donn, not Donald Eisele
You might want to check with someone who knows what he's talking about before you answer questions by drifting into flights of fancy
Interesting to think if this crash hadn't happened, we would have had a different crew land on the moon, and the apollo 1fire may have had different astronauts involved
butterfly effect
The Apollo One crew had been chosen by Deke Slayton several months before this incident. Gus was assigned to Apollo following his Gemini III flight in March, 1965. Ed White was selected following Gemini IV. They both were removed from the Gemini flight rotation. Rookie Roger Chaffee was selected upon completion of his training as part of the third group of astronaut selectees.
@@dalethelander3781 Yes. But without the Accident Stafford/Cernan wouldn't have flown 9 but 12, Aldrin not 12. Meaning Aldrin indeedwould not have been on Apollo 11. But Apollo 1 had a bigger effect. Also Collins without back-problems would have been on Apollo 8 not 11.
Also Armstrong was asked if he was okay with Aldrin, who apparently wasn't the most beloved person in the corps.
Slayton in his (interesting) book kinda keeps track of when events influenced the Crew for Apollo 11. To debunk the myth that Armstrong was chosen for any other reason than the schedule. And certainly not for Gemini 8 but that's a different story.He also very clearly says that Grissom would have gotten the first landing attempt.
Interestingly he also writes that, when flying with See, he wasn't extremely impressed with his flying.
According to Deke, Elliot See wasn't an aggressive enough pilot in the Talon. Food for thought.
@@dalethelander3781 I am an avid scholar of the space program and I have a question and maybe you could answer it. The astronauts were so Hands-On in the development and the design of the spacecraft that I can never understand how the Apollo 1 was made in such a shoddy poor fashion when they had something to do with it no one could figure out that the wiring was terrible and no one could figure out that your oxygen would be at absolutely lethal it just astonishes me that the astronauts didn't see any of this until a tragedy happened anyway I look forward to hearing from you. RIP to the heros who perished.
There is a plaque on the surface of the Moon, left there by the crew of Apollo 15. It bears the names of fourteen men, eight American and six Russian, who either died in space or in preparing for that journey. Among those names are Elliot See and Charles Bassett. "Per Ardua ad Astra."
Roscoe White - I know about the three from the Apollo 1 fire, and from this T-38 incident. Who were the remaining American ones?
@@baxtercat5462 The other Americans on the plaque are Theodore Freeman, Edward Givens and Clifton Williams. Theodore Freeman and Clifton Williams died in separate accidents involving T-38 Talons; Edward Givens was killed in a car accident.
Roscoe White - wow, I had heard about Freeman and Williams, but never even knew who Edward Givens was. At least his memory will live on forever on another planet. Thanks for the info.
I wonder if memorials to Challenger, Columbia will be left when someone returns to the moon
I had forgotten Williams but looking him up refreshed my memory,and didn’t know the third either. Freeman took a goose strike. Ejected but was too close to the ground to get the chute open. Williams had mechanical failure and loss of control and a similar ejection issue to Williams.
As usual, very, very well done. I was 11 when this happened. Hard to believe it's 54 years ago!
The T-38 was and isn’t a slow speed machine. Circling approaches in the T-39 are difficult in VMC. He didn’t watch his speed and got target fixated on the landing. This has happened more than once.
I know a young man who has thousands of hours in the 38 earned before and after he accumulated closer to 2000 hours in the 15E. High hazard occupation. He does all other things with an intensity like he is killing snakes in a small room or he is dead calm. Only two gears and no tolerance for anyone who runs afoul of his exacting standards. He says very little either.
@@sequoyah59 Do you have a point?
always sad to see anyone killed in a aircraft crash, i am a bit surprised that very experienced pilots did not take a more caution when trying to land in low cloud or fog,
NASA used the best of the best - And you get that way by being a risk-taker.
A sad case of "get there itis."
Very easy to get disorientated (for anyone) and at low altitude there isn't time to do anything about it.
@@Ulfcytel True that!
@@ROGER2095 See comment from MrCrystalcranium. Deke Slayton thought that See was too cautious, not too aggressive.
Allec I can't get bored while watching your video
RIP and long live Elliot See (July 23, 1927 - February 28, 1966), aged 38
And
RIP and long live Charles Bassett (December 30, 1931 - February 28, 1966), aged 34
You both will always be remembered as legends.
Doing a Circling in IMC with a Learjet or Citation jet may be hard enough. With a hot aircraft like the T-38 with its large turn radius and in IMC, it’s clearly asking for trouble. Of course, we’ll all agree now that he should have gone around for another approach or even divert. Maybe he was low on fuel. In the Portuguese Air Force we never lost a T-38 but we did have several close calls with IMC and critical fuel, and a lot of birdstrikes.
If See was a questionable pilot, why was he selected to a Space Program in first place? It’s hard to understand.
He was a test pilot if I recall and that is what they wanted for the astronaut corps at the time. Pilots who were used to being on the razor's edge with cutting edge technology and were cool and calm when things went awry. He might have ticked all the right boxes for NASA at the time.
A moment in time changes space travel history forever.
I grew up in Florissant, Missouri in north St. Louis County about 5 miles from the McDonnell Aircraft Co. facility at Lambert Field. I was twelve years old when this accident happened. Many of the our neighbors and members of our Florissant community worked at the McDonnell plant and we were all proud of McDonnell and their role in the U.S. Space Program. I remember when this accident occured; we immediately learned of it and it shocked my community. We were all sad about it. But it wasn't until I found and watched your video here, Allec, that I learned details I had not known in 1966 when the crash occurred. I'm a lifelong space fanatic and have been following the major events from the beginning, watching Alan Shepards suborbital flight in Freedom 7 and nearly every flight thereafter. So it's good to learn the details I missed about this accident when it happened. Excellent work putting this together Allec, really appreciated.
RIP
Elliot See
(1927-1966)
and
Charles Bassett
(1931-1966)
An excellent episode, Sir. RIP to all, who gave all that we should fly.
Stafford and Cernan subsequently went to the moon together in Apollo 10 but didn’t actually land. They almost didn’t come back when the Lunar module went out of control on the way back to the Command module. Cernan went on to be the last man to have stood on the moon in Apollo 17 and became one of only 3 men to have travelled to the moon twice.
I have a photo of Charles Bassett meeting with my Dad at Dads workplace in SoCal. The factory made numerous pressure and temperature measurement sensors and switches used by NASA and several aircraft manufacturers.
Such a sad event. Thank goodness nobody on the ground was hurt. You always have to keep your bearings when flying, and know your altitude. And everyone makes mistakes- some are just at the worst of times. Thanks for a fine vid, Allec...
What did you do with the time you saved not typing eo?
As soon as I saw the title I automatically thought Elliott See and Charles Bassett. I am a big geek follower of NASA space program from the beginning until Eugene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon in Apollo 17🚀
Caryl Dineen - same here! I automatically knew who they were and my mind flashed back to the horrific details of the incident. They were great men, who would’ve made great Gemini and Apollo astronauts. May they Rest In Peace.
Hey then you should watch Last Man On The Moon if you haven’t already!!
Jeffery K Thanks for the recommendation as I don’t think I have seen that🚀
Baxter Cat! Yes, they were the forgotten astronauts who died before the Apollo 1 fire disaster that ended Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffe and Edward White’s lives RIP
What? No love for Skylab and ASTP?
So sad, everyone makes mistakes, most of us don't pay with our lives though.
Brave men.
Thomas P Stafford is currently 89.
It seems so difficult to believe that these Pilots made such a simple error in judgement considering they are involved in the space program.
Fatigue. These guys had to keep current on their flight quals and times along with doing astronaut training stuff.That's why they were flying themselves and not taking transport.
@@SSN515 fatigue.....that is a major cause of crashes in of itself. Can't blame the pilots as you have to be the best to get into the space program and the pressure/workload is massive. This is just as bad as loosing Roger Chaffee, Ed White and Gus Grissom on the launchpad....different reason why...but the same loss :(
@THE PEDOPHILE EXPOSING BOUNTY HUNTER you know nothing. Sitting in your lounger, judging people you don't know, from the distance of 54 years after the fact.
My parents knew these men. My father flew with them, before they moved on to NASA. The selection criteria was insanely tough - and they made the cut.
You? Not so much.
@@lairdcummings9092 Ignore the sad troll, it's a loser that doesn't have the brain cell capacity to enable it to lace the boots of those pilots.
@THE PEDOPHILE EXPOSING BOUNTY HUNTER What would YOU have done differently? Other than being an armchair quarterback.
Thank you Allec for that piece of history !
Elliot See was a brilliant man, but almost to a man, his peers said he couldn't fly a kite.
One would assume NASA was selecting the finest pilot's in the country to fly the most advanced space vehicle's of their day. I would have to believe that See had piloting skills far above the average pilot.....maybe just a click below Stafford,Borman,Armstrong and the rest of the 1962 group?
@@ynp1978 So one would think but one would also think NASA would not loose not just one but two, count 'em, TWO space shuttles to entirely predictable perils. Just as people are not always rational, organizations are not always rational. Not knowing a thing about Eliot See I can't comment on his flying skills but I cannot dismiss out of hand what Stan said. I have seen strange things, a man who could not lead a 4 year old to the bathroom, a man who could not plan a Sunday afternoon picnic rise to authority over hundreds of technical people for example, engineers who couldn't engineer a hot dog on a stick for another example.
Deke Slayton himself was less than enthusiastic about See’s flying.
I think it's fair to say he could fly a T-38. He must have flown it in an acceptable manner at all times previously, although perhaps his skills were not of the same standard as the rest of the astronauts, or Deke Slayton would presumably have asked for his resignation. Poor weather on this occasion didn't make the accident inevitable; it may have been averted had See made a different choice and gone around for a instrument approach
I meant to add that all your videos are very well done ! WE APPRECIATE YOU BRUTHA👍💞
Thanks for this.... This is one of the lesser known crashes but it deserves a more attention.
Great video. I'm surprised I hadn't heard of that one. Thanks for the share.
Very good presentation, Allec. A tragic event, illustrated very well.
4:50 - Looks like the image of a soldier in Class A's standing at attention on the wing where it says NASA 901.
Gemini 9a also almost ended in disaster because Cernan grew exhausted struggling with his umbilical and the handgrips plus a visit so fogged he was about blind during his EVA. Stafford was on the verge of having to decide whether to cut the line so he at least could re-enter. Stafford had to work with him to get him back inside. Cernan lost like 10 pounds I think and pourd sweat out of his boots.
This is the first I ever heard of this accident. Thank for posting.
Stafford and Cernan both went on to go to the moon. Cernan went twice, landing there once.
Your channel is amazing. Had to subscribe. I love to read the comments.
Very interesting Allec👍👍
Great Video,I didn’t heard this one before,keep it up!
Love the content
Rest in Peace, Tom Stafford! I know he didn’t die in this mishap, but he just passed away. I came here to honor not only him, but for everyone involved with this mishap. What’s more, is that I came here to honor Stafford by respecting the fact that in IMC, he chose the soundest possible course of action; he chose to fly the published missed approach procedure.
Thank you for this post. I remember it along with Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.
Just an FYI, it's spelled HOuston, TX not HUston...no biggie, honest mistake. Still enjoyed the vid as always. 😉👍👍
R.I.P...
@@JM-lw3nx keyboard happy?
What did you do with the time you saved not typing eo?
@@K1OIK I rearranged my sock drawer. What would u have done w/the time u spent bashing my comment for no apparent reason?
@@dodoubleg2356 What did you do with the time you saved not typing ou, ith, ou? You are too hip and cool to use English. What does IDK mean?
Great work as usual Allec. Will you be using the Microsoft Simulator 2020 in the future?
I am hooked on this channel. So interesting!
Thank you, Allec.
Always instant click when Allec uploads
Deke Slayton in his autobiography said he regretted assigning See as Mission Commander for Gemini 9 as he felt See was too hesitant and "old womanish" in his flying. Thus, it wasn't hard for Slayton to see how a challenging situation got the best of him. He felt bad about See but worse about Charlie Bassett whom Slayton felt held more promise and would likely have been a Lunar Module Pilot for one of the moon landings.
Actually, Slayton had told Bassett that after Gemini 9, he would probably assign him to Borman's Apollo crew as Command Module pilot, the assignment Mike Collins received after his Gemini 10 flight. Bassett would not have had to drop out of this crew, as Collins did, needing surgery for a cervical disc herniation. Bassett would have flown with Borman and Anders on the Apollo 8 mission, then been Commander of the Apollo 11 backup crew, and been in line for Apollo 14, as Jim Lovell was. Then he and his crew would have had to trade places with Al Shepard and his crew when the NASA top brass decided Shepard needed more time before his flight to afford more training time. Bassett might have been more cautious than Jim Lovell, and asked the engineers to replace Oxygen Tank no. 2 in the Apollo 13 Service Module.
Chilton you are right
Thanks Allec 👍.
Fantastic video again Alec, love your content.
I know this crash is still under investigation, but as soon as more is found out about it, I think a video about the 2019 Saha 707 crash would be really interesting, seeing as how it was the last 707 in civil service. Anyways, keep up the great work, love the videos.
I surely will make one on that one day
I always like your content 👏
ending music so beautiful
I love ur video allec
This was like one of Paul Harvey's, "The Rest of the Story".
I feel bad about the crash, but it did show that See did not have good judgement
The Right Stuff unfortunate wrong flight..not forgotten by Allec...RIP
Thanks. I had forgotten about this tragic accident.
Very very nice video Thanks
Thank you. Well done, objective and fair.
2:56 the outer marker or the inner marker? The outer marker is generally about 5 miles from the runway while the inner marker is essentially the runway threashold.
Sad but very well done video!🙏👍🇺🇸
I was a young teenager at the time time this happened and seldom ever followed the news so I never knew till now about this tragedy. You know sometimes a person will have overconfidence in their ability which can cause them to make a simple little mistake that leads to tragedy. I'm sure this crash affected many in the NASA program in some way or another. A salute to those who perished.
Never heard of this accident until today. While I am too young to actually remember it (I was five at the time), it is surprising I never came across it in the extensive coverage of the space programme since. Thanks for highlighting it
Such a graceful little bird.
It should be pointed out that because Aldrin was on the back up crew for Gemini 10, the reason he would not have had a flight before Apollo 11 was that back up for Gemini 10 was what was considered a "dead end" assignment, because the 10 back ups, according to the normal rotation, would have recycled to Gemini 13, and there was no Gemini 13. So Aldrin likely would have eventually landed on the moon, but not on Apollo 11. Or, possibly, he might have ended up on Apollo 13, since he had already shared an assignment with Jim Lovell, and since NASA seemed to like to keep pairs together if they worked well (Borman-Lovell, Conrad-Gordon, Stafford-Cernan).
Bassett would almost certainly have commanded a moon landing mission, and might have been the first on the moon instead of Armstrong. He was considered one of the two "stars" in his astronaut group, along with Dave Scott. This was one of the real tragedies of NASA history, equal with Apollo 1 or the Challenger disaster, but it is almost completely forgotten.
Interesting video. I will have to cover this topic in a video on my channel.
The mission designation was changed to Gemini 9A after the initial docking target launch failed, as was the earlier Gemini 6A mission. The “angry alligator” shown in the video was a replacement.
Great video thanks :o)
More military aircraft videos please. Love videos like this
Good job brother. 👍🏻 For myself, the timing of this video was perfect, as I was doing some personal research into the tragedies that befall America's space program, and when I came across this specific incident, I honestly wasn't even aware of it. The capsule fire and the 2 shuttle disasters are (obviously) the most infamous and well known. While it involved 2 astronauts, the WAY they perished wasn't a direct involvement with a spacecraft as the others were. But they were still astronauts whose absence did have an effect on the space program, and more importantly, they were 2 human beings whose lives lost had an even bigger impact on the people that cared for them and would never see them again. I don't need to actually know people on a personal yo have empathy for them. I guess what Im trying ti say is, when I found out about these men, I felt they should have more recognition, and seeing this video along with the information you provided is definitely another way of doing so. I have a hunch there's going to be others viewers who either knew very little about these astronauts if at all. With that being said, while I think this was a great video (as usual😉👍🏻) I truly believe it's one of the more important ones regarding the men receiving some well deserved recognition, I really mean that. Again, great job!
Circle to land is spooky enough in a helicopter with low vis, can’t imagine doing it with low vis in one of those speedy buggers
Thank you. That very interesting. May they RIP.
The former McDonnell-Douglas facility is now owned by Boeing, and a final assembly plant for the F-18. I haul defense fuels, and used to deliver JP-8 there for the new aircraft. Being a spaceflight enthusiast from my youth, I definitely recalled that See and Bassett had perished there in an accident....still, actually viewing the building they struck in-person was a bit unsettling at first. Truly heroic men....
Building 101...the building they crashed in to is not final assembly for the F-18.
@@CrowT no, but it's still part of the complex there at Lambert Field.
Pilot error. See was an astronaut & an excellent experienced pilot! How could he have made such a fatal mistake??
Rip to everyone who died 😢 I've never heard of this crash
This was really unfortunate. I recently did a video on Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford who died on March 11.
Hello everyone hope you are all doing well and congratulations graduates. (Myself included)Greetings from new York USA.😊🤪🇺🇸
Thanks for the like allec when it comes to crash simulations I'm a big fan of your work. 😃
HEY TWISTER MAN ..CONGRATS! 👍
Thank you.
@@twisterman4184 Have a great weekend!
Thanks
Well done!
Good video
I have much respect for these calibre of individuals. The education and training that brought them to that place/time and to push the envelope of technology so to speak, just incredible. I can tell that some of you commentors on here were either involved, very close to these projects, or men like the NASA astronauts. My regards go to you all as well. This was 1966...we all now have come to know that the circling approach is likely one of the more hazardous approaches one can do (low/slow/reduced vis and or ceilings). When I viewed this, I saw that they did it in deteriorating wx vs improving wx, and did it as a flight of two. Hmm.. would like to think that I wouldn't have done that , but I wouldn't put myself in their league either. If See was a carrier rated F9 Panther pilot, why would Deke Slayton consider him a civilian pilot?
Very sad. Have read the T-38 can develop a high sink rate if she gets too slow. At low altitude, as here, there may be not enough time to recover.
Gemini 9, the mission that almost everything went wrong. The prime crew deaths, rendezvous targets failed, Cernan's EVA from hell to top it off. Only thing that went right was re-entry and recovery
I did not know about this sad event. Interesting video. Would've looked more professional if Houston was spelled correctly but I suppose we can't have everything.
You can have everything you want! Whenever you want! However you want it!!! You just have to pay for it :) 💰
Almost exactly 11 months before the Apollo I fire. NASA had it cases of bad luck and teething problems then. As a kid back then these astronauts were heroes to me.
Very sad....weather conditions were horrendous and the pilots suffered a CFIT. My sympathies to their families RIP
Either ways it sadly proves how deadly being a pilot can truly be 😭
excellent!
T-38 Talon is a fast machine. In VMC is already hard enough to circle to land, let alone in poor deteriorating visibility.
I grew up on the space coast in Florida (Brevard county) in the 60's and 70's and my Dad was an Engineer out at The Cape with GE but I honestly never heard this story.
My Family name is Bassett. I am heartbroken for Charles Bassett.
You also have to wonder how the rotation might have changed to put Roger Chaffee, Ed White, and Gus Grissom in place for the devastating Apollo1 launchpad fire that took their lives during a launch rehearsal.
They had already been selected months earlier.
a tragic event tastefully recreated,may they rest in peace!
Not the first time Astronauts would be lost.
I can't believe I've never heard of this crash. I was ten at the time, and remember watching nearly all of those early Mercury & Gemini launches. The 'live' coverage of the launches themselves anyway. I doubt I was reading newspapers back then....or watching the evening news though. Probably why I missed the story.
Good afternoon from St John Parish, Louisiana 6 Sep 20.
Elliot See realized at the last second his plane was going to hit the building containing the Gemini 9 and 10 spacecrafts, so he pulled up and accelerated just enough that instead of hitting in the mid-portion, he brazed the roof. Though it was not enough to miss the building and save his and Charles Bassett's lives, that action prevented the Gemini 9 and 10 crafts from being destroyed and likely prevented the deaths of hundreds of workers, technicians and and engineers inside, the astronauts investigating the disaster concluded. Though See's attempted landing was inadvisable, his very last act saved the Gemini and Apollo programs.
I think Chris Kraft or Deke Slayton said in their book that See wasn't a very good pilot.
Slayton didn't say that See wasn't a good pilot per se, but described his flying skills as too conservative and "old-womanish". Other astronauts, in particular Neil Armstrong, defended See's abilities.
@@richkeeney4744 Neil was a good guy and loyal. He was being "kind" about Elliot. See couldn't fly a kite.
Notice that about See in couple replies. If he was not up to task he never should been in the program start with. Military don't just give people stuff normally you must earn it. For some reason I don't think we getting the rest of his story. Maybe he made just a bad judgement call ? . Maybe he was not the most popular within his co-astronauts? They Ran into unexpected heavy fog. Best judgement call be Go back To basic 101 no fancy flying go back safety #1 & 1st get everybody safely on ground is #1. You run into these type accidents a lot in military flying they trying finish the pre-planed mission when best judgement call would be go back to 101 safety #1 get everybody back safely on ground is #1 priority & most wise. Maybe this could be the root cause of accident? I don't know much about See but if he was not up ability wise I don't see them just including him into a elite very high profile program like that. Just don't make any sense.
@@Houndini It was a very high pressure program they were moving way too fast to meet the end of 60's deadline. See and Bassett were victims of the crazy schedule and so too were many others.
4:47 who else sees a man in “NASA 901” if you understand me
Lol. I noticed that immediately. Freaky
THANKS ALLEC ! I WAS GLAD WHEN I GOT NOTIFICATION AND KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE GOOD NIGHT ..HAVE A SAFE AND AWESOME WEEKEND💞🤸