Retired NASA astronaut Alan G. Poindexter killed in jet ski accident involving his son

Capt. Alan G. Poindexter, 51, was riding the motorized craft with his 22-year-old son when his older boy, 26, crashed into them with his own jet ski.

The ex-spaceman was thrown into the water in Little Sabine Bay off Pensacola Beach but died at hospital.

“Zachary hit the rear of the jet ski the father and his brother were on,” Stan Kirkland, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission press spokesman, told the Pensacola News Joual. “Capt. Poindexter was then knocked off his jet ski.”

The accident happened at about 1:30 p.m. and Poindexter was pulled from the water and rushed to a nearby beach where friends frantically performed CPR in an effort to save his life.

He was transported by Lifeflight helicopter to Baptist Hospital where he died.

His sons were not injured and an investigation has been launched.

“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 graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech in 1986, with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering.

He was sent to Pensacola Naval Air Station for flight training and, during his time at NASA, he piloted the Atlantis space shuttle when it delivered the Columbus module to the Inteational Space Station in 2008.