NAMES TO REMEMBER: Apollo astronaut James McDivitt

Former NASA astronaut James A. McDivitt, who commanded the Gemini IV mission and flew around the Earth as the commander of Apollo 9, passed away on 13 October aged 93. McDivitt passed away peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his family and friends in Tucson, Arizona.

- ATHOL FRANZ

McDivitt was born 10 June 1929, in Chicago. He graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, before going on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan, graduating first in his class in 1959.

He joined the United States Air Force in 1951 and retired with the rank of Brig. General. He flew 145 combat missions during the Korean War in F-80 and F-86 aircraft. 

He was a graduate of the US Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School and the US Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot course and served as an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, California. He logged more than 5,000 flying hours during his piloting career.

McDivitt was selected as an astronaut by NASA in September 1962 as part of NASA’s second astronaut class. He first flew in space as commander of the Gemini IV mission in June 1965. McDivitt was joined by fellow Air Force pilot Ed White on the programme’s most ambitious flight to date. During Gemini IV, White would become the first American to venture outside his spacecraft for what officially is known as an extravehicular activity (EVA) or as the world has come to know it, a spacewalk. In the following years, it was a skill that allowed Apollo explorers to walk on the Moon and American astronauts d their partners from around the world to build the International Space Station.