Posted: Fri, May 25, 2001, 11:04 AM ET (1504 GMT)
NASA astronaut Patricia Hilliard Robertson died late Thursday, two days after sustaining critical injuries in a small plane crash. Robertson was severely burned when the private plane she was riding in crashed while performing a series of touch-and-go landing tests at an airfield near Houston. The Houston Chronicle reported that Robertson and the civilian pilot of the plane suffered second- and third-degree burns over 90 percent of their bodies. Robertson, a doctor, was selected to the astronaut corps in the class of 1998, but had not yet been assigned to a shuttle or station mission. She had been working as a liaison between mission control and the astronaut office in support of the Expedition Two crew aboard the International Space Station.

Related Links:

•  Houston Chronicle article
•  NASA astronaut biography of Robertson