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Edgar Mitchell's Death
- Edgar Mitchell
- Astronaut
- September 17, 1930
- February 4, 2016
- Died in his sleep in hospice care
The life and death of Edgar Mitchell:
He was one of the select few to walk on the Moon and after his safe return spoke out on some truly "out of this world" theories.
He was born Edgar Dean Mitchell in Hereford, Texas and grew up in a ranching family that moved to New Mexico during the Depression. In a foreshadowing of his future, he considered Artesia, New Mexico (near Roswell) his hometown.
Active in the Boy Scouts he achieved the second highest rank of Life Scout and learned to fly by age 13.
After graduating from his local high school in Artesia, he received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1952. He eventually went on to a Doctor of Science Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964.
He also joined the Navy and was a Naval Aviator. While preparing for astronaut duty, Mitchell served as an instructor in advanced mathematics and navigation theory. Mitchell also served as a fighter pilot in the Korean War and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was certainly a well grounded and highly educated man.
He became one of only twelve people to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission led by Alan Shepard. Stuart Roosa was the third member of the team.
On February 5th and 6th, 1971, Shepard and Mitchell conducted scientific experiments on the lunar surface.
Click to see color images of the mission.
He had some post NASA career problems with the government when he put a camera used on Apollo 14 up for auction. He claimed it was given to him as a gift. The auction house withdrew the camera and Mitchell and the U.S. reached a settlement in which he returned the camera.
His post NASA interest included paranormal phenomena.
In fact, he believed UFO's were real. His local paper talked about it way back in 1947.
And Mitchell was talking about it in the 1990's into the new millennium.
Twice divorced, Mitchell had three children, three step children and nine grandkids.
He died the day before the anniversary of his lunar landing at the age of 85. He was in hospice care after a short illness and passed away in his sleep.