Crew For Gemini Flight Killed

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30998, 2 March 1966, Page 11

Crew For Gemini Flight Killed

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) ST. LOUIS (Missouri), March 1. Elliot See and Charles Bassett, who were scheduled to fly into space in May, were killed yesterday when their twin-jet plane crashed into the plant where their space capsule was built, the Associated Press reported.

See, aged 38, and Bassett,! aged 33, were flying to the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation when their T3B fightertrainer crashed into the roof of the space centre at McDonnell’s huge complex. McDonnell makes the Gemini spacecraft and Phantom jet fighter planes used in Vietnam. Ten people working on a phantom fighter were injured when the plane hit the top of the building, skidded over the roof then crashed into a construction and parking area below. The plane burst into flames and was destroyed. None of the 10 injured was believed seriously hurt. The plane was making an instrument landing in light fog when it crashed. Another T3B fighter-trainer, also circling the airport, landed safely.

The Federal Aviation Agency said the cause of the crash was not known. The weather Bureau said visibility

was one and a half miles and the ceiling was 800 feet. The astronauts were on their way from the manned space flight centre in Houston, Texas. See and Bassett were to ride into space this summer aboard Gemini IX. See was scheduled to be the command pilot, while Bassett was scheduled to take a 90-minute walk in space. Neither had been in space before. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration later named an Air Force lieutenant-colonel, Thomas P. Stafford and a Navy Lieutenant-Commander, Eugene A. Cernan, as the crew for the Gemini IX spacecraft scheduled for launch this summer.

Tourist Record. — A record 192,380 persons visited Australia in 1965, more than 16 per cent above the figures for the previous year. They spent £A64 million.