S. David Griggs Status: Died While In Active Service 9/7/1939 – 6/17/1989 Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Stanley David Griggs was a United States Navy officer and a NASA astronaut. He is credited with conducting the first unscheduled extra-vehicular activity of the space program during Space Shuttle mission STS-51-D. Griggs was killed when the vintage World War II-era training aircraft he was piloting – a North American AT-6D (registration N3931S) – crashed near Earle, Arkansas.