United States of America
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U.S. Navy · United States 
William Cameron McCool
Captain
1961 – 2003
Captain William C. McCool served the United States Navy. William was 41 years old.
How They Died
Manner
Accident
Cause
Multiple traumatic injuries
Place
United States of America
Biography
Pilot of Columbia, a captain in the United States Navy. He was born William Cameron Graham in San Diego and took his father's name when his mother remarried.
He finished second in a class of one thousand and eighty-three at the Naval Academy, took a master's in computer science at Maryland and another in aeronautical engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School, and flew the EA-6B Prowler from the Enterprise and the Coral Sea before becoming a test pilot.
He was selected by NASA in 1996 and this was his first flight. He had been in space fifteen days, twenty-two hours and twenty minutes when Columbia came apart, sixteen minutes from home.
He kept a camera running on the flight deck through the early part of re-entry. The tape was found on the ground in Texas and the crew are laughing on it.
He left a wife and three sons and is buried at Arlington.
He finished second in a class of one thousand and eighty-three at the Naval Academy, took a master's in computer science at Maryland and another in aeronautical engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School, and flew the EA-6B Prowler from the Enterprise and the Coral Sea before becoming a test pilot.
He was selected by NASA in 1996 and this was his first flight. He had been in space fifteen days, twenty-two hours and twenty minutes when Columbia came apart, sixteen minutes from home.
He kept a camera running on the flight deck through the early part of re-entry. The tape was found on the ground in Texas and the crew are laughing on it.
He left a wife and three sons and is buried at Arlington.
Keepsakes
Service Record
Awards & Decorations
2
Foreign awards
NASA Distinguished Service Medal posthumous
Conferred by Congress
Congressional Space Medal of Honor posthumous
Also Remembered
Columbia
In Our Keeping
Permanent identifier
neuraspine_01m2gpzcxam8cgyd94z13hn6tt
Record added
September 14, 2026
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Last updated
September 15, 2026
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William Cameron McCool
Captain
U.S. Navy
United States Navy
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