Jan. 27, 1967: 3 Astronauts Died in Launchpad Fire

I deeply respect the efforts of the United States space program and know the supreme sacrifice that some made for our steps forward must never be forgotten.

Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed on the launch pad when a flash fire engulfed their command module during testing for the first Apollo-Saturn mission. They were the first U.S. astronauts to die in a spacecraft.