Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee

Virgil I. Grissom (1926 - 1967) U.S. Project Mercury astronaut.  Died in the tragic Apollo fire 1/27/67.  Shown at left with crewmates Ed White and Roger Chaffee.  NASA Photo

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Apollo 1 was the first manned mission of the U.S. Apollo manned lunar landing program. The planned low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967, because a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24, 1967.