Clifton Williams

Clifton Curtis Williams Jr. (September 26, 1932 – October 5, 1967), was an American naval aviator, test pilot, mechanical engineer, major in the United States Marine Corps, and NASA astronaut, who was killed in a plane crash; he never went into space. The crash was caused by a mechanical failure in a NASA T-38 jet trainer, which he was piloting to visit his parents in Mobile, Alabama. The failure caused the flight controls to stop responding, and although he activated the ejection seat, it did not save him. He was the fourth astronaut from NASA's Astronaut Group 3 to have died, the first two (Charles Bassett and Theodore Freeman) having been killed in separate T-38 flights, and the third (Roger B. Chaffee) in the Apollo 1 fire earlier that year. Williams was active in the Boy Scouts of America, where he achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. Williams attended Murphy High School in Mobile, graduating in 1949. For the next two years he attended Spring Hill College, studying medicine,

Of the 2,500 hours flying time he accumulated, more than 2,100 hours were in jet aircraft. On October 18, 1963, Major Williams was named by NASA as one of its third group of astronauts, along with thirteen others. This group included Buzz Aldrin, who took part in the first lunar landing in 1969, as well as Roger B. Chaffee, who died in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967.

The third group of astronauts performed jungle training. Williams partnered with Rusty Schweickart.

Williams served as the backup pilot for Gemini 10,

Marriage and children Williams was the first bachelor astronaut, which changed when he married Jane Elizabeth "Beth" Lansche, An Air Force spokesman stated, "The plane disintegrated and the body disintegrated with it."

Honors

The Apollo 12 mission patch has four stars on it: one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission, and one for Williams (at Alan Bean's suggestion). Also, his naval aviator wings and silver astronaut pin were placed to rest on the lunar surface in his honor, left there by astronaut Bean during Apollo 12 in November 1969.

Williams was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Williams's name appears on NASA's Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Williams was played by Jim Leavy.