Elliott See

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Elliott See

Elliott McKay See, Jr. (July 23, 1927 – February 28, 1966) , was an American astronaut, selected in the second group of astronauts.

Elliott See was born in Dallas, Texas. After initially attending The University of Texas where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, he then attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy, graduating in 1949. He later obtained a masters degree from UCLA. He was married to Marilyn Denahy See, and had three children, Sally, Carolyn and David.

See acted as backup Pilot for Gemini 5 and was in-line to fly as Prime Crew Pilot for Gemini 8 but was promoted to be the command pilot of Gemini 9. However, he and pilot Charles Bassett were killed when their T-38 Talon crashed into a building at the Lambert Field airport in St. Louis, Missouri before Gemini 9 flew. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

A NASA investigative panel later concluded that pilot error caused by poor visibility due to bad weather had been the principal cause of the accident. The panel concluded that See was flying too low to the ground during his approach, probably as a result of the poor visibility.

The shuffling of the Gemini prime and backup crew assignments that occurred after See and Bassett's deaths had an effect on the crew selections for some of the early Apollo manned missions.

See's name is listed on the Astronaut Memorial.

In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon See was played by Steve Zahn.