Major Edward Galen Givens Jr., USAF (January 5, 1930 – June 6, 1967) was a United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. Selected by NASA in 1966 as a member of the fifth astronaut group, he died in an automobile accident before being assigned to a prime or backup spaceflight crew. Early life and education Givens was born on January 5, 1930, in Quanah, Texas, to Edward Galen Givens Sr. (1904–1991) and Mary Helen Givens (; 1909–2002). He had one younger brother, Donald Jarrell Givens (1932–1952), who died in a Consolidated P4Y-2 Privateer crash in Corpus Christi, Texas. As a child, his family called him Young Galen Givens. He took on extra courses when he was in high school, which allowed him to finish a year early. He worked in a grocery store and spent time cleaning cars to earn money for flying lessons and would hitchhike to Childress Municipal Airport to take them. His parents said he "never had an interest in anything but aviation". Givens earned his pilot's license in early 1946, and then performed a solo flight the day after he turned 16 in a Piper Cub. He graduated from Quanah High School in 1946. Givens was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. He attended Texas A&M University for a semester and the University of Oklahoma for three semesters. He graduated in 1952, as an outstanding student, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Naval Sciences from the United States Naval Academy. During his time at the academy, Givens (or "Give", as he was known there), studied academics, undertook flight training, and played varsity lacrosse. Givens and his wife Ada had three children: Catherine H. (born in 1963), Edward G. (born in 1964), and Diane (born in 1967). Military career Givens was commissioned in the Air Force as a second lieutenant upon graduating from Annapolis in 1952, and received his flight training as a student pilot at the United States Air Force Air Training Command. On August 18, he flew the T-6 Texan—the first advanced trainer he flew with the air force—and continued to fly the plane almost every day. Givens was awarded his wings on February 4, 1953, as one of the top students. As such, he could choose the branch of the air force where he wanted to serve and chose fighter