DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Astronaut Edward White, who gave his life as part of man's race to the moon, was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday along with the first female shuttle pilot and the late Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart.
White, who made America's first spacewalk in 1965 but was killed in a spacecraft fire two years later, was presented for enshrinement by the man who first set foot on the lunar surface.
"Ed had an acute dedication to his work," Neil Armstrong said. "And he was committed to superiority in the conquest of space."
Joining White as enshrinees in Saturday night's ceremony, which hundreds of people attended, were Eileen Collins, the first woman to command an American space mission; Russell Meyer Jr., former head of the Cessna Aircraft Co., and Stewart, who was a bomber pilot during World War II before starring in such classic movies as "It's a Wonderful Life" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window."
On Friday night, the hall presented its Spirit of Flight Award to the Apollo astronaut crews for their roles in the moon missions.
White, who grew up in Washington D.C., flew in the Air Force and was among the second group of astronauts selected. His first mission was as pilot for Gemini IV, the first long-duration flight for the Gemini program.
During White's 21-minute spacewalk on the mission in 1965, he maneuvered on the end of a 25-foot tether using a handheld gas gun.
He died Jan. 27, 1967, when a flash fire swept through their Apollo I spacecraft during a pre-launch test at Cape Kennedy, Fla. Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Roger Chaffee also perished in the blaze.
Stewart, born in Indiana, Pa., was a private pilot who enlisted in the Army in 1941 at the age of 33. He sought posting to a flying unit and was assigned to the U.K.-based 445th Bomb Group, first as a squadron operations officer and then as its commander.
He flew 20 combat missions in B-24s, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, the Croix de Guerre and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.
Continuing his post-war service with the U.S. Air Force Reserve, he achieved the rank of brigadier general in 1959, retiring from active duty in 1968. He remained an American airpower advocate until his death in 1997.
Jimmy Stewart Museum president Carson Greene said Stewart was "a good guy - devoted to family, country and craft."
"If Jimmy were here, and I believe he is tonight," Greene said, "he would be honored to be among these inductees."
Collins, born in Elmira, N.Y., was the Air Force's first female flight instructor and was chosen to be an astronaut in 1991.
In 1995, she became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, and she became the first to command an American space mission when she served on a shuttle in 1999. She flew four shuttle missions, logging 872 hours before retiring in 2006.
She said she discovered the space program when she was in fourth grade.
"I fell in love with the astronauts, the Gemini astronauts," she said. "I wanted to be just like them."
Collins defended the space program, telling the people in attendance that if they ever hear someone say NASA is adrift or no longer inspirational, that's not true.
"We have the most focused, passionate, motivated and skilled employees," she said.
Meyer, who's from Davenport, Iowa, was a fighter pilot in the Air Force and Marine Reserves from 1955-61. In 1974, he joined the Cessna Aircraft Co. as executive vice president and a year later was named chairman and CEO. He led the development of a program that created more than 50,000 new licensed pilots.
"For somebody who knew at the age of 4 that he wanted to be an aviator," Meyer said, "joining the National Aviation Hall of Fame with all the pioneers that created this great industry is an absolute dream come true."
The aviation hall was founded in 1962 in Dayton, hometown of the Wright brothers, and later was chartered by Congress. Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first inductees.
Other enshrinees include Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the moon together on July 20, 1969, and William Boeing, the entrepreneur who established the company that became the Boeing Airplane Co.
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National Aviation Hall of Fame: http://www.nationalaviation.org