Talk:Ed White (astronaut)

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Ed White (astronaut) has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Ed White (astronaut) is part of the NASA Astronaut Group 2 series, a featured topic. This is identified as among the best series of articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
September 26, 2021	Good article nominee	Listed
December 29, 2021	Featured topic candidate	Promoted

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on October 22, 2021.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Ed White (pictured) was the first American to perform a spacewalk?

Current status: Good article

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Mission Insignia

The only patch is the Gemini 4 insignia. Ed White was also a member of Apollo 1. Just because he died a few weeks before launch doesn't mean he wasn't a part of the mission. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.32.128.240 (talk) 12:05, 30 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Image copyright problem with File:Gemini Four patch.jpg

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Change in Infobox Status

I reverted an edit that changed Edward Higgen's infobox from "Killed while training in the Apollo 1 Command Module" to "Died during a plugs-out test of the AS-204 Command Module" because to me such a description is too detailed for an encyclopedic article. But if I moved too swiftly, please respond and lets discuss the pros and cons. Thanks! Skeet Shooter (talk) 03:38, 28 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, it's all part of the WP:BRD process. I updated White's status to be consistent with the language used in the Gus Grissom and Roger B. Chaffee articles as well as the Apollo 1 article itself. - Dravecky (talk) 03:43, 28 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK, thanks. I agree consistency is important, but the text still seems very wordy and arcane for the high-level summary of an Infobox. The Template:Infobox_Astronaut instructions state the status field be set to "the person's status as a member of an astronaut corps - Active, Retired, Deceased, etc." I propose simplifying the Infobox entry to match the template instructions and keep the details in the Apollo 1 article. Skeet Shooter (talk) 02:59, 30 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"This is the saddest moment of my life"

These are the words White utters has re reenters Gemini 4, having been ordered to conclude his epic EVA. I think this quote deserves to be highlighted in the article. (I assume he actually said this, as I'm watching it on the first episode of the HBO documentary series From the Earth to the Moon. __meco (talk) 12:48, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That show is a docudrama and not a documentary, and thus does not qualify as a reliable source. We need factual documentation of the quote in order to put it in. JustinTime55 (talk) 16:27, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How about the official NASA mission transcript of Gemini IV voice communications? It's at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/mission_trans/GT04_TEC.PDF, on page 56, at 4:48:46 elapsed mission time. Jim Simmons (talk) 18:52, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Great! I've added the quote in the article. __meco (talk) 19:53, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Portrait in infobox

I agree with JustinTime55's previous comment in an edit summary that "Replacement of Apollo 1 portrait w/ older one not an improvement", but 69.116.4.45 has again replaced Apollo1-EdWhite.jpg with EdwardWhite.jpeg. Are we going to have to have a revert war over this? Gildir (talk) 19:32, 8 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I say we go to a neutral photo, like say the one in his official NASA biography.--NavyBlue84 20:18, 8 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I certainly don't want a revert war. But I'm not happy with NavyBlue's suggestion either; I don't think that photo is really neutral because it obviously dates from White's Gemini training. It's unfortunate that MOS:BIO doesn't offer any guidelines about lead photos. I think a person who has done several notable things in his/her life should be represented near current (if alive), or at the latest publicly recognizable state (last achievement before retirement or death.) I know I've worded that clumsily, and I thought I read some kind of discussion to that effect somewhere on WP though I can't recall it now. (Maybe we could get a discussion of the principle going on the WP:MOS talk page.)

I guess my motivation is mostly emotional, but even though White was a Gemini astronaut and is remembered for making the first US spacewalk, he's also remembered because of his tragic death circumstances, so would like to see his lead photo in his Apollo 1 suit, the way it stood for a long time. Since the current photo in his USAF uniform is his "official" NASA portrait, and was taken in 1966 (close to the time of the Apollo 1 fire), I would have less objection to keeping it the way it is. (I don't think "officiality" is really pertinent, though.)

However, Gus Grissom's lead photo is quite another story. He was the command pilot of the Apollo flight, and I feel definitely does deserve to be remembered mostly for that. His Apollo 1 spacesuit picture is much more appropriate than the 1964 picture of him in a suit standing next to a Gemini-Titan model, with which I'm not at all happy.

Is there any way we can persuade 69.116.4.45 to weigh in here with his rationale? JustinTime55 (talk) 21:25, 8 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If I had to pick one of those two photos, I would have to say the one of him in his USAF uniform. I am sure there are other ones of that nature that were taken closer to the time of his death, maybe we could find one of those.--NavyBlue84 21:43, 8 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Requested move 25 December 2017

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved (non-admin closure). sami ^talk 23:01, 1 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Edward Higgins White → Ed White (astronaut) – Wasn't he known as just "Ed White"? Google searches seem to support this:

ed white astronaut: 15,400,000 hits,
edward white astronaut: 6,740,000 hits,
edward higgins white astronaut: 2,320,000 hits.

"Edward Higgins White" was probably used mostly in a formal setting. HandsomeFella (talk) 20:07, 25 December 2017 (UTC) }}[reply]

Support per nom and common name. The astronaut is known and honored as Ed White, not 'Edward Higgins White' which is certainly not his common or most familiar name. Thanks to the nominator for taking the effort to correct this. Randy Kryn (talk) 05:08, 26 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nomination and Randy Kryn. Not known to the public by his full birth name. —Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 20:29, 1 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Ed White notes pending GA review

I would expand the lede to two paragraphs, explaining the class of astronauts he was in and introducing Gemini 4 earlier.

"^[1]"

I am not sure why this is here.

"White was considered to be a high-flier by the management of NASA"

I'd pick a less colloquial term than "high-flier"

I'd expand the Gemini 4 flight section, give it its own heading. White is essentially known for two things: Gemini 4 and Apollo 1, so each should get a decent bit of page. Perhaps NASA CAREER, Gemini Program, Gemini 4, Apollo Program, Apollo 1? It would be interesting to know what White did for training, how he got selected to be in the programs, etc.

I have not checked sources or images. Just prose.

I made several minor changes to improve the prose.

References

^ Prior to the first graduating class from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1959, a certain percentage of officers in the U.S. Air Force were drawn from West Point and from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. In any case, the vast majority of officers in the U.S. Armed Forces are educated and trained at the three kinds of R.O.T.C. programs at hundreds of other institutes and universities across the country.

Personal Life

Other entries for astronauts of Grissom's stature include this information. Gypo Nolan-Williams (talk) 17:02, 29 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Prior to the first graduating class from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1959, a certain percentage of officers in the U.S. Air Force were drawn from West Point and from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. In any case, the vast majority of officers in the U.S. Armed Forces are educated and trained at the three kinds of R.O.T.C. programs at hundreds of other institutes and universities across the country.

[1]