Charlie Bassett

ABOUT CHARLIE BASSETT

As part of the third group of NASA astronauts, he died while training for the his first space flight.

He flew 275 combat missions in the Vietnam War, and altogether logged over 5,000 flying hours.

He and another astronaut were training for the Gemini 9 mission when their trainer jet crashed, killing them both.

He was married with two children.

Unlike fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong , he never made it to space.