Died January 27, 1967 (Cape Canaveral, Florida)

American astronauts

On January 27, 1967, the first step toward putting an American on the Moon ended in tragedy. That day, astronauts Roger Chaffee (1935–1967), Gus Grissom (1926–1967), and Edward White (1930–1967) died aboard their Apollo 1 spacecraft. They had been conducting tests on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) in Florida, when a fire broke out in their crew module. The accident was a severe blow to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which had given high priority to Project Apollo, the U.S. program that would send humans to the Moon. Apollo 1 was to be the first in a series of manned Moon flights, but the accident forced a temporary halt to the program and NASA safety procedures underwent extensive review.

Soviets Triumph in Space War

NASA initiated Project Apollo at a time when national pride was at stake. On May...