Roger B. Chaffee Biography

Roger B. Chaffee (Lieutenant Commander, USN)

PERSONAL DATA: Born on February 15, 1935, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. Chaffee, reside.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Brown hair; brown eyes; height: 5 feet 9-1/2 inches; weight: 152 pounds.

EDUCATION: After graduating from Central High School, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Roger Chaffee received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University in 1957.

Married to the former Martha L. Horn of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Horn of that city.

CHILDREN: Sheryl L., November 17, 1958; Stephen B. July 3, 1961.

OTHER ACTIVITIES: Chaffee's hobbies include guns.

ORGANIZATIONS: Member of Tau Beta Pi, national engineering society; Sigma Gamma Tau; and Phi Kappa Sigma.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the United States Navy Air Medal. Selected for the NASA Astronaut Corps.

Chaffee, a Lieutenant Commander, entered the Navy in 1957. He served as safety officer and quality control officer for Heavy Photographic Squadron 62 at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. In January 1963, he entered the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to work on a master of science degree in reliability engineering.

He logged more than 2,300 hours flying time, including more than 2,000 hours in jet aircraft.

Lieutenant Commander Chaffee was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963.

In addition to participating in the overall training program, he was also tasked with working on flight control communications systems, instrumentation systems, and attitude and translation control systems in the Apollo Branch of the Astronaut office. On March 21, 1966, Roger Chaffee was selected as one of the pilots for the AS-204 mission, the first 3-man Apollo flight.

Roger Chaffee and fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Ed White died on January 27, 1967, at Cape Kennedy, Florida, when a flash fire consumed their spacecraft during a full-scale simulation in preparation for the scheduled launch of their Saturn / Apollo mission.