Clifton Curtis Williams Jr. (September 26, 1932 – October 5, 1967), was an American naval aviator, test pilot, mechanical engineer, major in the United States Marine Corps, and NASA astronaut, who was killed in a plane crash; he never went into space.

The crash was caused by a mechanical failure in a NASA T-38 jet trainer, which he was piloting to visit his parents in Mobile, Alabama.

Also, Bean placed Williams' naval aviator wings and silver astronaut pin to rest on the lunar surface during his moonwalk.

For the next two years he attended Spring Hill College, studying medicine,[4] but transferred to Auburn University, from where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1954.

He became a naval aviator in August 1956, and served with operational tactical jet squadrons of the Fleet Marine Force.

His work there included both land-based and shipboard tests of the F-8E, TF-8A, F-8E (attack), and A-4E aircraft and the automatic carrier landing system.

Of course, if you said which mission I would most like to have, I'd say the first lunar flight you make from the standpoint of personal satisfaction and accomplishment.On October 18, 1963, Major Williams was named by NASA as one of its third group of astronauts, along with thirteen others.

This group included Buzz Aldrin, who took part in the first lunar landing in 1969, as well as Roger B. Chaffee, who died in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967.

[11] Williams was the first bachelor astronaut,[8] which changed when he married Jane Elizabeth "Beth" Lansche,[2][3] a former waterskiing performer at the Cypress Gardens theme park in Florida.

[2] The couple met in June 1957, and were married on July 1, 1964, in St. Paul's Catholic Church in New Bern, North Carolina, which was Lansche's hometown.

[2] On October 5, 1967, Williams was flying from Cape Canaveral back to Houston, with a stop in Mobile to visit his father who was dying of cancer.