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.
An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the
Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire.
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.
