Apollo 1

The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Apollo 1 ended tragically when all the astronauts inside died due to fire in command module during an experimental simulation. Because of this incident, there were a few unmanned tests before men boarded the spacecraft. Apollo's command module (CM-012) was destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise on January 27, 1967 at Pad 34. The crew onboard were the astronauts selected for the first manned Apollo program mission: Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee. All three died in the fire. The crew's picture is on the right. Left to right: Grissom, White, Chaffee