A launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral,
Florida, killed astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II,
and Roger B. Chaffee.

The astronauts, the first Americans to die in a spacecraft, had
been participating in a simulation of the Apollo 1 launch that 
was scheduled for the following month.

The Apollo 1 prime crewmembers intended for the first
manned Apollo space flight: (L to R) Edward H. White II,
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee.

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, returned safely
to Earth after an historic six-day journey.

On December 21, Apollo 8 was launched by a three-stage Saturn
5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank
Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.

On Christmas Eve, the astronauts entered into orbit around the
moon, the first manned spacecraft ever to do so.

From left Astronauts Borman, Anders and Lovell
after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean and
being recovered by the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.            
           

                           

THE FIRST IMAGE TAKEN BY HUMANS OF THE
WHOLE EARTH on December 22. 

Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were last 2 individuals to walk on the moon as of today.

The U.S.-crewed spaceflight to the moon on Dec. 7, 1972, was
known as Apollo 17 — also known as the final flight of the
Apollo program.

This particular spaceflight included two historic astronauts:
Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.

These Apollo 17 astronauts would become — on this day in
history, Dec. 11, 1972 — the last humans to walk on the moon
thus far. 

U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford became the
first African American to travel into space when the space shuttle Challenger lifts off on its third mission. It was the first night
launch of a space shuttle, and many people stayed up late to
watch the spacecraft roar up from Cape Canaveral, Florida,
at 2:32 a.m.

The Challenger spent six days in space, during which time Bluford
and his four fellow crew members launched a communications
satellite for the government of India, made contact with an errant communications satellite, conducted scientific experiments, and
tested the shuttle’s robotic arm.

Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. will be 81  years old, November 22.

TIM MAGUIRE

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012)