T-38 Crash of Elliot See and Charles Bassett
On the morning of 28 February 1966, Elliot See and Charles Bassett took off from Ellington Field in Houston, Texas in a T-38 Talon (tail number NASA 901). Being the prime crew for the upcoming Gemini IX mission, they were headed for Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri for two weeks of rendezvous in the Gemini simulator at McDonnell Aircraft Corp.
Elliot See and Charles Basset (credit: NASA)
Flying with See and Bassett were Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan, the back-up crew for Geimin IX, in another T-38 (tail number NASA 907).
At 8:55 AM CST, conditions at Lambert Field were poor, with thick clouds, poor visibility, and rain mixed with snow. Instrument based landings were expected. Both planes appeared over the centerline of the southwest runway, but were too low and too fast to land. Staffor was flying to See's right and chose to ascend and attenpt a second approach. See made a tight turn and tried to reach the runway. A surprised Stafford remarked, "Where's he going?"
When Stafford did land, the tower asked him, "Who was in NASA 901?" This is when he was informed See and Bassett had crashed and died.
See, for unknow reasons, had attempted to land, and when he realized he could not, had attempted to bank and climb, using his afterburners. The craft impacted the roof of Building 101. Fortunately, only about a dozen people inside the building were injured, one relatively severely. Had the plane impacted a bit lower, it could have hit the assembly line, killing hundreds and destroying the Gemini IX craft itself.
An investigation found no defects with the T-38 and attributed the accident to pilot error. See was considered one of the best pilots in NASA, although that was disputed by Deke Slayton, head of Flight Crew Operations. Slayton felt See was overly cautious where the T-38 was concerned.
Aftermath
Had the crash taken out the Gemini assembly line, it could have meant the end of the Gemini program. The deaths of See and Bassett certainly impacted future mission assignments.
See would probably have been a backup pilot for Gemini XII and possibly gone on to Skylab.
Bassett could have possibly been in a position to command an Apollo lunar landing flight.
Stafford probably would not have been on Apollo 10 or commanded ASTP.
Cernan likely would not have been the last man on the moon on Apollo 17.
The new back-up commander for Gemini IX, Jim Lovell, would not have been on either Apollo 8 or Apollo 13.
Buzz Aldrin likely would not have been the second man on the moon with Apollo 11.
Page last modified: 16 May 2026 20:15:08.
