NASA pays tribute on 50th anniversary of Apollo 1 disaster
On Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1 crew members Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee lost their lives in a flash fire while rehearsing the launch.
After keeping the command module locked up for 50 years, NASA put the burned capsule on public display at the Kennedy Space Center as a tribute to the astronauts.
- This Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017 photo provided by NASA shows part of the Apollo 1 exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Fla. On Jan. 27, 1967, a fire during a test on the launch pad killed three astronauts at the start of the Apollo moon program. (Kim Shiflett/NASA via AP)
- This Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017 photo provided by NASA shows part of the Apollo 1 exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Fla. On Jan. 27, 1967, a fire during a test on the launch pad killed three astronauts at the start of the Apollo moon program. (Kim Shiflett/NASA via AP)
- NASA’s Apollo 1 crew was named on March 21, 1966. Left to right are astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.
- In this June 1966 photo made available by NASA, the Apollo 1 crew practices water evacuation procedures with a full scale model of the spacecraft at Ellington AFB, near the then-Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston. In the rafts at right are astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee, foreground. In a raft near the spacecraft is astronaut Virgil Grissom. (NASA via AP)
- This undated photo made available by NASA shows the Apollo 1 crew, from left, Edward H. White II, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee. On Jan. 27, 1967, a flash fire erupted inside their capsule during a countdown rehearsal, with the astronauts atop the rocket at Cape Canaveral‚Äôs Launch Complex 34. All three were killed. (NASA via AP)
- In this 1966 photo made available by NASA, technicians work on the Spacecraft 012 Command Module at Cape Kennedy, Fla., for the Apollo/Saturn 204 mission. During a launch pad test on Jan. 27, 1967, a flash fire erupted inside the capsule killing three Apollo crew members. (NASA via AP)
- FILE – In this Feb. 17, 1967 file photo, technicians and officials inspect the aluminum covered Apollo 1 spacecraft after it was lowered from its booster at pad 34 at Cape Kennedy, Fla. Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a flash fire erupted in the spacecraft on January 27. (AP Photo/Jim Kerlin, Pool)
- FILE – In this Feb. 17, 1967 file photo, the Apollo 1 capsule, with black smudge marks visible on the heat shield, is lowered from its Saturn 1 booster at Cape Kennedy, Fla. During a launch pad test on Jan. 27, 1967, a flash fire erupted inside the craft killing the three Apollo crew members aboard. (AP Photo/Jim Kerlin, Pool)
- FILE – In this Jan. 31, 1967 file photo, a horse-drawn caisson carrying the body of astronaut Virgil Grissom travels to the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Walking beside the flag-draped casket as honor pallbearers are astronauts, from left foreground, Marine Col. John Glenn, Air Force Col. Gordon Cooper, Navy Cmdr. John Young; from left background are Donald Slayton, Navy Capt. Alan Sheperd and Navy Cmdr. Scott Carpenter. Grissom was killed in the Apollo 1 fire on launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967. (AP Photo)
- Family members of fallen astronauts placed a wreath at the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center’s NASA Day of Remembrance ceremony on Thursday.The monument includes the names of the fallen astronauts from Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, as well as the astronauts who perished in training and commercial airplane accidents are emblazoned on the monument’s 45-foot-high-by-50-foot-wide polished black granite surface. (NASA handout photo)