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1966 NASA T-38 crash

Coordinates:38°45′14″N90°20′42″W/ 38.75389°N 90.34500°W/38.75389; -90.34500
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NASA T-38 crash
AstronautsElliot SeeandCharles Bassett
Accident
DateFebruary 28, 1966, 8:58 amCST
SummaryControlled flight into terrain
SiteMcDonnell AircraftBuilding 101, adjacent toLambert Field,
nearSt. Louis,Missouri,U.S.
38°45′14″N90°20′42″W/ 38.75389°N 90.34500°W/38.75389; -90.34500
Aircraft
Aircraft typeNorthrop T-38 Talon
RegistrationNASA 901
Flight originEllington Air Force Base,Texas
DestinationLambert Field,St. Louis,Missouri
Occupants2
Crew2
Fatalities2
Survivors0

On February 28, 1966, aNASANorthrop T-38 Taloncrashed atLambert FieldinSt. Louis,Missouri,killing twoProject Geminiastronauts,Elliot SeeandCharles Bassett.The aircraft, piloted by See, crashed into theMcDonnell Aircraftbuilding where theirGemini 9spacecraft was being assembled. The weather was poor with rain, snow, fog, and low clouds. A NASA panel, headed by theChief 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 bypilot error.

In the aftermath of the crash, the backup crew ofThomas StaffordandEugene Cernanwere moved up to the primary position for the Gemini 9 mission, scheduled for early June.Jim LovellandBuzz Aldrin,who had formerly been the backup crew forGemini 10,became the mission's backup crew and through the normal rotation were assigned as prime crew forGemini 12.Without the Gemini experience, it is unlikely that Aldrin would have been assigned to theApollo 11mission, during which he became the second person to walk on the Moon.

Accident[edit]

See and Bassett were the prime crew assigned to theGemini 9mission. They and the backup crew for the mission,Tom StaffordandGene Cernan,were flying to St. Louis from their normal training base inHoustonfor two weeks of simulator training forrendezvousanddockingprocedures atMcDonnell Aircraft,the prime contractor for theGemini spacecraft.It was a routine flight that they had made many times previously.[1]

See and Bassett flew in oneNorthrop T-38A Talonjet trainer,tail numberNASA 901 (Air Force serial number 63-8181), with See at the controls and Bassett in the rear seat. A second T-38, NASA 907, carried Stafford and Cernan in the same configuration. The two aircraft took off fromEllington Air Force Basein Texas at 7:35 a.m.CST,with See in the lead and Stafford in wing position.[2]Weather atLambert Fieldin St. Louis was poor, with rain, snow, and fog, broken clouds at 800 ft (240 m) and acloud ceilingof 1,500 ft (460 m), requiring aninstrument approach.When the two aircraft emerged below the clouds shortly before 9 am, both pilots realized that they had missed theouter markerand overshot the runway.[3]

See then elected to perform avisual circling approach,a simplified landing procedure allowing flight under instrument rules, as long as the pilot can keep the airfield and any preceding aircraft in sight. The reported weather conditions at the airport were adequate for this type of approach, but visibility was irregular and deteriorating rapidly. Stafford began to follow See's plane, but when he lost sight of it in the clouds, he instead followed the standard procedure for amissed approachand pulled his aircraft up, back into the clouds for another attempt at an instrument landing.[4]

See completed a full circle to the left at an altitude of 500 to 600 ft (150 to 180 m), and announced his intention to land on the southwest runway (24).[1][4]Withlanding geardown and fullflaps,the plane dropped quickly but too far left of the runway.[5][6]See turned on hisafterburnerto increase power while pulling up and turning hard right.[7]Seconds later, at 8:58 a.m. CST,[4]the plane struck the roof of McDonnell Building 101 on the northeast side of the airport. It lost its right wing and landing gear on impact, then cartwheeled and crashed in a parking lot beyond the building which was in use as a construction staging area.[7]

Both astronauts died instantly fromtraumasustained in the crash. See was thrown clear of the cockpit and was found in the parking lot still strapped to his ejection seat with the parachute partially open. Bassett was decapitated on impact; his severed head was found later in the day in the rafters of the damaged assembly building.[8]

Inside Building 101, 17 McDonnell employees and contractors received mostly minor injuries from falling debris.[9][4]The crash set off several small fires inside the building,[9][10]and caused minor flooding from broken pipes and sprinklers.[1]See and Bassett died within 500 ft (150 m) of the spacecraft that they were to have flown in orbit, which was in the final stages of assembly in another part of Building 101.[5]Spacecraft S/C9 was undamaged, but a piece of debris from the T-38's wing struck the unfinishedS/C10spacecraft.[11]

Stafford and Cernan, still circling in the clouds in the second T-38, had no idea what had happened to their flight partners. Air traffic controllers were confused by the two planes in flight attempting different abort actions after the initial missed approach,[7]and no one on the ground knew who was in the crashed plane.[2]After some delay, Stafford and Cernan were asked to identify themselves and given permission to land, but they were not informed of the crash until on the ground.[11][12]Although personally distraught over the loss of his close colleagues and friends, Stafford acted as NASA's chief contact on the scene until other personnel arrived to relieve him later in the day.[13]

Investigation and aftermath[edit]

NASA immediately appointed a seven-member panel to investigate the crash, headed by theirChief of the Astronaut Office,Alan Shepard.While the panel weighed possible medical issues, aircraft maintenance problems, weather conditions, and air traffic control factors, their end verdict waspilot error,citing See's inability "to maintain visual reference for a landing" as the primary cause of the crash.[4]See was described as a "cautious and conservative" pilot in the accident report.[14]In his memoir, chief astronautDeke Slaytonwas less diplomatic, calling See's piloting skills "old-womanish."[11][15][16]Others, includingNeil Armstrong,who had worked with See on the backup crew forGemini 5,have since defended See's piloting ability.[8][11]

Since the crash did not affect space flight operations and the spacecraft itself was undamaged—it was shipped to NASA two days after the crash—the accident caused neither delays nor engineering changes in the U.S. space program.[17]However, the loss of the Gemini 9 crew did cause NASA to reshuffle the crew assignments for subsequent Gemini and Apollo missions; Stafford and Cernan were moved up to the primary position for Gemini 9, re-designatedGemini 9A.Jim LovellandBuzz Aldrin,who had formerly been the backup forGemini 10,became the back-up crew for Gemini 9A, and through the normal rotation were then assigned as prime crew for the 1966'sGemini 12.Without experience during the Gemini mission, Buzz Aldrin would have been an unlikely choice for the 1969Apollo 11mission, during which he became the second man to walk on the Moon.[11]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^abcMcMichael, W. Pate (May 2006)."Losing The Moon".St. Louis Magazine.St. Louis, MO.Archivedfrom the original on March 19, 2014.RetrievedJune 10,2012.
  2. ^abFreeze, Di (July 2005)."Gene Cernan: Always Shoot for the Moon, Part I".Airport Journals.Archived fromthe originalon June 27, 2012.RetrievedJune 10,2012.
  3. ^Burgess, Doolan & Vis 2003,pp. 33–34.
  4. ^abcde"Accident Board Reports Findings in See-Bassett Crash"(PDF).Space News Roundup.Vol. 5, no. 17. Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas:NASA.June 10, 1966. p. 3. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on March 5, 2016.RetrievedJune 10,2012.
  5. ^abRosenthal, Harry F. (March 1, 1966)."Cernan, Stafford Replace Spacemen Killed in Crash".Idaho State Journal.Pocatello, ID.Associated Press.p. 1.Archivedfrom the original on February 28, 2022.RetrievedJune 10,2012.
  6. ^Hacker & Grimwood 1977,pp. 323–324.
  7. ^abcBurgess, Doolan & Vis 2003,p. 35.
  8. ^abEvans, Ben (March 5, 2012).""A Bad Call": The Accident Which Almost Lost Project Gemini ".AmericaSpace.Archivedfrom the original on September 30, 2020.RetrievedJuly 20,2020.
  9. ^abBurgess, Doolan & Vis 2003,p. 66.
  10. ^O'Neil, Tim (February 28, 2010)."A Look Back: Crash here killed two astronauts".St. Louis Post-Dispatch.St. Louis, MO.Archivedfrom the original on August 30, 2012.RetrievedJune 10,2012.
  11. ^abcdeEvans 2009,pp. 308–309.
  12. ^Cernan & Davis 2000,p. 99.
  13. ^Burgess, Doolan & Vis 2003,pp. 68–69.
  14. ^Burgess, Doolan & Vis 2003,p. 73.
  15. ^Slayton & Cassutt 1994,p. 167.
  16. ^Cernan & Davis 2000,p. 96.
  17. ^Burgess, Doolan & Vis 2003,p. 70.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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