Alan Poindexter, Shuttle astronaut, 50

[David Carson]

The Pensacola News Journal has reported the death of Alan G.
Poindexter in a boating accident on 1 July 2012, age 50. He was
sitting on a jet ski with his 22-year-old son, Samuel, when his oldest
son, Zachary, 26, crashed into them on a separate craft. Poindexter
died from injuries sustained in the crash. His sons were not injured.

NASA selected Poindexter, a Navy captain, to join the astronaut
program in 1998. He piloted the shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-122 in
February 2008 and commanded the shuttle Discovery for mission STS-131
in April 2010. He retired later that year.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20120702/NEWS01/307020019/Astronaut-Alan-Poindexter-dies-jet-ski-accident-Pensacola-Beach

A retired NASA astronaut died Sunday afternoon after a personal
watercraft crash in Little Sabine Bay at Pensacola Beach, officials
from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported.

Capt. Alan G. Poindexter, 51 [sic], had been riding on a personal
watercraft with his 22-year-old son, Samuel. At about 1:30 p.m.,
Poindexter and his son were sitting still on the watercraft ski when
Poindexter’s oldest son, 26-year-old Zachary, crashed into them on a
separate craft.

“Zachary hit the rear of the jet ski the father and his brother were
on,” said Stan Kirkland, an FWC public information officer. “Capt.
Poindexter was then knocked off his jet ski.”

Poindexter was pulled from the water onto a boat and driven to a
nearby beach where friends performed CPR on him.

He was then taken by Lifeflight helicopter to Baptist Hospital where
he later died from injuries suffered in the crash.

Poindexter’s sons were not injured in the accident, Kirkland said. The
FWC has launched an investigation into the crash.

“We get involved anytime there’s a boating accident,” Kirkland said.
“So we’re conducting an investigation, and that’s where we’re at right
now.”

Poindexter received his associate's degree in engineering in 1983 at
Pensacola Junior College, now Pensacola State College. He went on to
Georgia Tech, where he graduated with highest honors in 1986 with a
bachelor's degree of aerospace engineering.

From there, he was stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station for flight
training.

In his career with NASA, he piloted the Atlantis space shuttle in 2008
to deliver the Columbus module to the International Space Station.
Columbus is a 23-foot-long, $2 billion cylindrical science lab.

--
Why do you seek the living among the dead? -- Luke 24:5
Who's Alive and Who's Dead
http://www.whosaliveandwhosdead.com

[J.D. Baldwin]

In the previous article, David Carson <da...@neosoft.com> wrote:
> The Pensacola News Journal has reported the death of Alan G.
> Poindexter in a boating accident on 1 July 2012, age 50. He was
> sitting on a jet ski with his 22-year-old son, Samuel, when his oldest
> son, Zachary, 26, crashed into them on a separate craft. Poindexter
> died from injuries sustained in the crash. His sons were not injured.

The answer to the question on some of your minds is Yes, he was the
well-known Navy Admiral John Poindexter's son.

I met him a few times during my own undergraduate years, as I was good
friends with one of his cousins. (When John goes, I can tell a few
stories on him in this group.) Then I knew him slightly in Navy
flight school, as our time there overlapped a bit. We had some mutual
friends from his time at Pax River who told me he was regarded as one
of the real greats in the test pilot community. No one had any doubt
that he'd be selected for the astronaut program should he choose to
apply, which obviously he did and was.

RIP
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------

[David Carson]

On Mon, 2 Jul 2012 15:22:55 +0000 (UTC),
INVALID...@example.com.invalid (J.D. Baldwin) wrote:

>
>In the previous article, David Carson <da...@neosoft.com> wrote:
>> The Pensacola News Journal has reported the death of Alan G.
>> Poindexter in a boating accident on 1 July 2012, age 50. He was
>> sitting on a jet ski with his 22-year-old son, Samuel, when his oldest
>> son, Zachary, 26, crashed into them on a separate craft. Poindexter
>> died from injuries sustained in the crash. His sons were not injured.
>
>The answer to the question on some of your minds is Yes, he was the
>well-known Navy Admiral John Poindexter's son.
>
>I met him a few times during my own undergraduate years, as I was good
>friends with one of his cousins.

I can't imagine the grief that his son, Zachary, has got to be going
through. He will carry the guilt for the rest of his life.

David Carson

[David Carson]

On Mon, 02 Jul 2012 10:07:54 -0500, David Carson <da...@neosoft.com>
wrote:

>The Pensacola News Journal has reported the death of Alan G.
>Poindexter in a boating accident on 1 July 2012, age 50. He was
>sitting on a jet ski with his 22-year-old son, Samuel, when his oldest
>son, Zachary, 26, crashed into them on a separate craft. Poindexter
>died from injuries sustained in the crash. His sons were not injured.

Here's a story with slightly more info:
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Ex-astronaut-killed-in-water-scooter-crash-in-Fla-3678467.php

"They were both moving and for some reason Capt. Poindexter stopped
his watercraft and Zachary for some reason didn't see him stop," said
Stan Kirkland, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission. "Zachary's watercraft went up and struck
Capt. Poindexter."

Another son, 22-year-old Samuel, was on Poindexter's scooter. They
were thrown into the water. A boat picked up Poindexter and took him
to shore. He was talking and complaining about rib injuries but he
lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.