Apollo 1 Mission Pictures

It was January 27, 1967 and the crew of Apollo/Saturn 204 (more commonly known as Apollo 1 mission) were training for the first crewed Apollo flight, an Earth orbiting mission scheduled to be launched on 21 February. During this training, tragedy struck. A fire killed the entire crew. On board were astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, (the second American astronaut to fly into space) astronaut Edward H. White II, (the first American astronaut to "walk" in space) and astronaut Roger B. Chaffee, (a "rookie" astronaut on his first space mission). The Apollo/Saturn 204 mission was officially assigned the name "Apollo 1" in honor of Grissom, White, and Chaffee.