Apollo 1 fire

On January 27, 1967, during a pre-launch test at Launch Complex 34, a fire in the cabin of the Apollo 1 spacecraft killed its three crew members: commander Gus Grissom, senior pilot Ed White II and pilot Roger Chaffee. They were to fly the first crewed mission of the Apollo program.

The session had already racked up problems: a sour odor in the oxygen supply, a high flow rate that triggered alarms, and communication failures. The cabin was filled with pure oxygen when the warnings came: "Fire, I smell fire" and "Fire in the cockpit." Evacuation required at least 90 seconds, a time the crew had never managed; White tried to operate the ratchet that released the hatch latches, but the smoke overcame him.

A medical board attributed the deaths to carbon monoxide asphyxiation, with burns as a contributing cause. NASA sealed off the complex and on February 3 set up a review board. The mission, designated AS-204, officially received the name Apollo 1, the one the crew had planned to use.