On Jan 27th 1967 a fire on the Apollo 1 killed astronauts Roger Chaffee, Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Ed White II, when a blaze erupted in their command module during preflight testing at Cape Kennedy’s Launch Complex. A fine article in today's Washing post gives details and background to the tragedy and covers the lasting effects on the families of the victims. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-news:page/in-the-news&utm_term=.f73d1ad04f79 In pursuit one of the finest ever scientific and engineering achievements in history these three tragically gave their lives. Could have it been avoided possibly but these were men who risked there lives very day for the benefit of us all and we should pause to remember them.
Terrible and avoidable tragedy. Still their sacrifice led to important safety and design improvements to the Apollo program.
"We owe a lot to Gus, and Rog and Ed. They made it possible for the rest of us to do the almost impossible." -- John Young image credit: NASA
Three small, man-made islands (used to load petroleum products tankers) in Long Beach Harbor, California -- named to honour the fallen Apollo 1 Astronauts