Today’s First Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Ted Freeman achieved unwelcome distinction on October 31, 1964, when he became the first fatality of the United States Astronaut Corps. That morning, Freeman, a test pilot and one of the third group of pilots selected for astronaut training by NASA, was returning to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston from McDonnell Douglas training facilities in St. Louis. As Freeman approached the landing strip, a goose flew into the port-side air intake of his modified T-38 Talon jet trainer. The bird strike was witnessed by two airmen in the control tower, and they reported that they did not see Freeman attempt to eject. In any case, the jet was too close to the ground to allow proper parachute deployment. Shards of Plexiglas apparently entered the engine, and the jet pancaked onto the nearby road where it immediately disintegrated. Freeman was killed instantly; he was 34. His wife Faith only learned about the accident when a reporter contacted her at her home. NASA afterwards took steps to make sure that in future space-related accidents, family members would hear the news from other astronauts first rather than from the media.
Culled from: Wikipedia
Submitted by: Aimee