posted 11-21-2004 06:00 PM               

In September, my wife and I spent a week in Houston, and I took the opportunity one afternoon to drive over to Pearland and see for myself the place where Ed lost his life that rain-soaked night in 1967.

It didn't take too much effort for us to find Knapp Road, and within a short time we had reached that awful 90-degree bend in the road where Ed lost his life in his VW Beetle, and the two air force reservists with him were badly injured. As Sy Liebergot had earlier suggested to me, the area has built up a lot in recent years, but I could visualise how it looked some 37 years ago as sparse farmland with only a couple of small houses by the roadside.

The corner itself is ferocious, and you come upon it very quickly. These days it is extremely well signposted, with cautionary road signs well in advance of the approach, and a suggested speed limit of 25 mph.

It was a humid, sunny day as I stood near the corner, but I tried to visualise Ed's car coming down the road on that wet night, his blade wipers streaking across the windscreen, and quite unaware of what I have been told was a complete lack of warning signs. He was lost - he had to be. Knapp Road really leads nowhere, and would certainly not have taken them to Ellington AFB. He'd missed two earlier turnoffs due to the inclement weather and traffic, and the slick, unlit wet road would have been unfamiliar to him.

Bill Hall, who survived the crash, told me there had been so many accidents at the corner that the lady in a nearby house was quite used to phoning the police and ambulance after other accidents. He also told me that he looked at the road a few days later and it was covered in pronounced skid marks where other motorists had almost (or had) come to grief.

When writing of the incident I'd imagined the ditch beyond the curve to be about six feet deep, but to my amazement it was far deeper - more in the region of 16 feet. As I followed the path of the skidding sedan in my mind, I could see that the VW would have begun rolling as soon as it went over the edge, which is quite steep.

As a biographer, it was certainly of great interest to me to visit this site where Ed Givens lost his life, and to see and photograph for myself how this tragic accident could have happened. It also allowed me to reflect for a few minutes on the sad loss caused by a simple car crash on a dangerous, unmarked road in rainy conditions.

posted 01-22-2005 06:42 PM               

Add in light rain, an unfamiliar wet road, and a probably inadequate set of windscreen wipers on a Volkswagen Beetle, with all three occupants breathing obscuring vapor onto the inside of the windows.

Then, even driving at 25 mph, imagine suddenly braking as you saw that sharp, 90-degree bend and sliding into what the occupants thought was a bumpy field beyond, but which instead turned out to conceal a drainage ditch with about a sudden 14-foot drop.

posted 10-12-2018 09:35 PM               

I found this issue of the Manned Spacecraft Center Roundup from June 9, 1967. It has a lead story regarding Ed Givens' car crash.

posted 10-13-2018 06:13 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by capoetc:
I did not know that the prime and backup crews for Apollo 1 were his pallbearers.

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posted 10-19-2018 01:59 AM               

In his own book, "The Making of an Ex-Astronaut," Brian O'Leary tells of going to a friend's wedding qithout seeking permission and Chief Astronaut Alan Shepard took him to task, saying (and I quote), "Remember you're an astronaut now. You're an astronaut twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year!"

Givens had been on the support crew for Apollos 1 and 7, and had "flown" a simulated mission to the moon and back.

So which specific mission was Robert Lawrence in dedicated training for? His name was added to the memorial mirror.

posted 10-19-2018 07:59 AM               

Why not include Pete Conrad, then?

A test would be if the person would be covered by workers' compensation for the incident vs their own insurance.

posted 10-19-2018 03:50 PM               

In 2014 Thas Altman, director of the Astronauts Memorial was speaking about the possibility of Michael Alsbury's name being included on the Memorial Mirror. "Alsbury doesn't quite meet our criteria" he said. "Qualification is predicated on being a member of the United States astronaut corps on a government-sponsored space mission."

Although Alsbury didn't meet that criteria, Altman was eager to add that "we're ready to re-examine our requirements." He told NBC News (in 2014) that a meeting of the foundation's board of advisers, scheduled for the following month, could provide the opportunity for such a re-examination. He added, "The Astronaut Memorial Foundation is deeply saddened by the death of Michael Alsbury during the test flight of SpaceShipTwo. We recognize and value the contribution that Virgin Galactic is making toward commercialized spaceflight and know that his loss will not be in vain."

As NBC noted, at the time, "Had the SpaceShipTwo program been funded by NASA or the Defense Department rather than Virgin Galactic, Alsbury would have clearly met the existing standards because he was testing a spacecraft designed to go into outer space."

posted 10-25-2018 04:51 AM               

We are the three children of your late astronaut colleague, Ed Givens. Over the past year we have been assisting Australian author Colin Burgess with information and recollections of our father for his forthcoming book, “Fallen Astronauts.” It might be added that we are collectively pleased with Mr Burgess’s detailed and extensively researched account of our father’s life, and have checked the manuscript to ensure complete accuracy.

In his manuscript, Mr Burgess correctly states that our father’s name is missing from the Astronaut Memorial Mirror at the Kennedy Space Center, and we were not even invited to this event, attended by the other 15 families. Our involvement in recalling Ed Givens’ life has rekindled the terrible sadness and disappointment that exists in us all due to this incomprehensible lack of recognition of our father. Edward Galen Givens had completed his astronaut training, and was undergoing Apollo-related training at the Manned Spacecraft Center when he died. There was a vague reference to his being “off duty” when he died, which we believe is the only reason his name does not appear on this memorial. As you would well know, a NASA astronaut in training is never off duty, so this argument has little validity, and certainly no merit.

In the course of his research, Mr Burgess located and interviewed a Mr Bill Hall, who was in the car with our father the night he died. The other occupant, who was seriously injured, died some time later in another car accident. Mr Hall’s written statements to Mr Burgess indicate that both men separately attended a meeting of the Quiet Birdmen in a Pearland Motel that night, but our father was not drinking, telling Mr (then Major) Hall that he had a very early morning interview at MSC and would be leaving the function well before it ended. He offered Majors Hall and Francis Dellorto a ride back to their quarters at Ellington AFB as they were doing some test flying early the next day. It was a wet night, and Mr Hall is adamant that our father drove attentively and according to the conditions, but the accident occurred due to an unmarked road obstruction, and they skidded off into what they thought was a grass verge. Sadly there was a deep ditch, and our father’s VW flipped over in this and he was fatally injured, dying on his way to hospital. The point, therefore, is that even though our father was attending a function where alcohol was available, he chose not to drink, and was killed simply because he was cognizant of an early morning start at MSC, and offered a ride to two air force colleagues.

Mr Burgess has told us that Beth Williams, the widow of C.C. Williams, is prepared to re-open the case with the Astronaut Memorial Foundation for our father to have his name on the Memorial Mirror. It is a sad iniquity that he alone of all the deceased astronauts has not been afforded this honor, when politically-motivated exceptions seem have been made for others such as Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Mike Adams, Robert Lawrence and Sonny Carter. We are very proud of our father and his accomplishments, and Mrs Williams has urged us to write to you, not just to express our feelings, but to entrust you with our desire to see his name displayed on the memorial as it should rightly be. His omission to date sends all the wrong messages, and this is not worthy of his memory.

posted 10-25-2018 06:10 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ColinBurgess:
...Alsbury would have clearly met the existing standards because he was testing a spacecraft designed to go into outer space."

So too was Ed Givens.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Personally, I don't see how it would detract from the Mirror to add all active U.S. astronauts (NASA, military and commercial) who have died in accidents.

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posted 10-25-2018 04:50 PM               

I'm appalled to hear that Ed's name is missing from any kind of memorial just because he was "off duty." That's a crock! Just because he was killed on his way home from some function other than work is irrelevant to who he was and what his job was. Once you take on the role of Astronaut you are in the public eye and are forever on duty. Who cares whether you are on your way home from a social function or a spacecraft test. Your life has been committed to the program, and whatever you do, you are measured relative to that commitment. No double standards!

posted 10-25-2018 05:56 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Behling:
The memorial is for the line of duty.

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When Sonny Carter died in a commercial airline crash, he was on his way home from a NASA speaking engagement. That trip was not in support of a mission, but was deemed to be in the line of duty.

Ed Givens was on his way home from a pilots' society meeting. While he was not sent there by NASA, he also wasn't free to do something that would embarrass the space agency (as Carr pointed out in his letter to Colin).