Former astronaut Alan Poindexter died yesterday as a result of the injuries sustained following a jet ski accident.

Alan Goodwin “Dex” Poindexter was born on November 5, 1961 in Pasadena, California and grew up in Rockville, Maryland. He studied at Coronado High School in Coronado, California, at Pensacola Junior College in Pensacola, Florida, earned a bachelor degree in aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech in 1986 and a master degree in aeronautical engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School in 1995.

Alan Poindexter joined the Navy after his bachelor graduation and after serving at the Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel Facility at the Naval Surface Weapons Center in White Oak, Maryland, in 1988 he was assigned to Naval Aviation. As a pilot, he served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm.

After the first Gulf War, Alan Poindexter became a test pilot accumulating over 4,000 flight hours in over 30 types of aircrafts.

In 1998, Alan Poindexter was selected by NASA as an astronaut. In 2002, he was assigned as the pilot to the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-120 but after the disaster of the Space Shuttle Columbia the mission was postponed and the crew reassigned.

In July 2006, Alan Poindexter was assigned as the pilot of the Space Shuttle Atlantis during mission STS-122, also referred to as ISS-1E by the International Space Station program. The primary objective of the mission, which began on February 7, 2008 and ended on February 20, 2008, was in fact to carry the European Columbus space laboratory in orbit to connect this module to the station.

In the following years, Alan Poindexter was assigned to the control center for NASA to maintain contact with the space shuttle missions STS-125 and STS-127. In 2012, he was the commander of the space shuttle Discovery during mission STS-131, which began on April 5 and ended on April 20. The primary mission was to bring equipment and supplies to the ISS using the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo, a container specifically built for that task.

That was the last mission for Alan Poindexter, who after it retired from NASA. Yesterday he was near Pensacola Beach, Florida with his sons. According to the news, his eldest son crashed into him in a a jet ski. Poindexter was immediately transported to the nearest hospital but his injuries were very serious and he died shortly after.

An investigation was opened, a formality due in these cases, but it really seems that this was a very unfortunate incident that took Alan Poindexter away far too soon.