Tags: Astronaut.
Russell Lee Rogers was an astronaut assigned to the X-20 Dyna-Soar program. He was born on April 12 1928 in Lawrence Kansas. He was married with five children. Rogers was killed when the engine of his F-105 fighter plane failed near Kadena AB Okinawa Japan on September 13 1967. He ejected from his aircraft but his parachute failed to deploy properly.Rogers was an experimental test pilot at Edwards AFB when selected for the X-20 program in April 1960.