Theodore Freeman

Theodore Cordy Freeman
NASA Astronaut
Nationality	American
Status	Died during training
Born	February 18, 1930(1930-02-18) Haverford, Pennsylvania
Died	October 31, 1964(1964-10-31) (aged 34) Houston, Texas
Other occupation	Test pilot
Rank	Captain, United States Air Force
Selection	1963 NASA Group
Missions	None

Theodore Cordy Freeman (February 18, 1930, in Haverford, Pennsylvania – October 31, 1964 at Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, Texas) was a NASA astronaut and a captain in the United States Air Force. He was killed in the crash of a T-38 jet, marking the first fatality among the American astronaut corps. He was survived by his wife Faith Clark Freeman and one daughter, Faith Huntington.

Freeman completed his secondary education in 1948. He attended the University of Delaware at Newark for one year, then entered the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1960, he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan. Freeman was also a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Freeman graduated from both the Air Force's Experimental Test Pilot and Aerospace Research Pilot Courses. He elected to serve with the Air Force. His last Air Force assignment was as a flight test aeronautical engineer and experimental flight test instructor at the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.

He served primarily in performance flight testing and stability testing areas. He logged more than 3,300 hours flying time, including more than 2,400 hours in jet aircraft. Freeman was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963. He was assigned the responsibility of aiding the development of boosters.

On October 31, 1964, Theodore Freeman was killed when a goose smashed through the cockpit canopy of his T-38 Talon jet trainer. Flying shards of Plexiglas entered the jet engine intake and caused the engine to flameout. Freeman ejected from the stricken aircraft, but was too close to the ground for his parachute to open properly. Faith Freeman first heard of her husband's death when a reporter came to her house: NASA subsequently ensured that in the case of future astronaut deaths, their families were informed by other astronauts as quickly as possible.

The Clear Lake City-County Freeman Branch Library of the Harris County Public Library and Houston Public Library systems is named in memory of Freeman. An artificial island off Southern California, is also named for him. This is one of the four "Astronaut Islands" built in Long Beach Harbor during the late 1960s as unsinkable platforms for oil drilling; the others were named Grissom, White and Chaffee, in honor of the astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire.

Books

A family-approved account of Freeman's life and career appears in the 2003 book "Fallen Astronauts" by space historians Colin Burgess and Kate Doolan UNP 2003.

Oriana Fallaci's If the Sun Dies, a world-famous book on the early days of the American space program, offers a moving portrait of Freeman.

External links

• NASA biography
• Astronaut Memorial Foundation website
• Spacefacts biography of Theodore Freeman