Edward Givens

Edward Galen "Ed" Givens Jr (January 5, 1930 – June 6, 1967) was an United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. He was selected in 1966 by NASA as a member of the fifth astronaut group.

He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. He and his wife Ada had three children.

Military career
Givens was commissioned in the Air Force upon graduating from United States Naval Academy in 1952 and received his flight training as a student pilot at the United States Air Force Air Training Command. In 1954, he was a flight commander and fighter pilot with the 35th Fighter-Interceptor Group on duty in Japan. He served as an instructor at the Air Force Interceptor Weapons School from January 1956 to March 1958 and subsequently attended the United States Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Upon graduation he became an instructor in the Stability and Control Section.

His next assignment took him to the Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, where he was a project pilot with Air Development Squadron 4. While there, he not only conducted operational evaluations but also was responsible for compiling and developing the operation procedures and tactics for fleet operation of the F8U-2N.

He served as Assistant to the Commandant at the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School from November 1961 to September 1962 and then attended the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, from which he graduated in 1963. When informed of his selection for astronaut training in 1966, he was assigned as Project Officer with USAF SSD Detachment 2 at the Manned Spacecraft Center.

He logged more than 3,500 hours flight time; 2,800 hours in jet craft.

NASA career
Givens was one of nineteen selected by NASA in April 1966 for its fifth astronaut group. After completing basic astronaut training, he was assigned to the Apollo program and briefly served on the support crew for the first manned post-Apollo 1 fire mission, eventually to fly as Apollo 7. On June 6, 1967, Givens was driving his Volkswagen home from a meeting of the Quiet Birdmen fraternal organization, with two other officers in the car, when he missed a sharp, unmarked turn and crashed into a ditch in Pearland, Texas, near Johnson Space Center. Givens died on the way to the hospital. He was survived by his wife Ada and their three children.

Books
A family-approved account of Givens' life appears in the 2003 book "Fallen Astronauts" by Colin Burgess.