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Apollo-1 (20)
- Pad 34 (7)
- Saturn-1B AS-204 (4)
- CSM-012 ()
- Apollo Pad Fire
- Virgil I. Grissom
- Edward H. White II
- Roger B. Chaffee
Backup Crew:
- Walter M. Schirra, Jr
- Donn F. Eisele
- Walter Cunningham
Payload:
- Spacecraft-012
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Mission Objective:
- January 27, 1967. Tragedy struck on the launch pad during a
preflight test for Apollo 204 (AS-204), which was scheduled to be the first
Apollo manned mission, and would have been launched on February 21, 1967.
Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives
when a fire swept through the Command Module (CM).
- The exhaustive investigation of the fire and extensive reworking of
the CMs postponed any manned launch until NASA officials cleared the CM for
manned flight. Saturn 1B schedules were suspended for nearly a year, and the
launch vehicle that finally bore the designation AS-204 carried a Lunar
Module (LM) as the payload, not the Apollo CM. The missions of AS-201
and AS-202 with Apollo spacecraft aboard had been unofficially known
as Apollo 1 and Apollo 2 missions (AS-203 carried only the aerodynamic nose
cone). In the spring of 1967, NASA's Associate Administrator for Manned
Space Flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, announced that the mission originally
scheduled for Grissom, White and Chaffee would be known as Apollo 1, and
said that the first Saturn V launch, scheduled for November 1967, would be
known as Apollo 4. The eventual launch of AS-204 became known as the
Apollo 5 mission (no missions or flights were ever designated Apollo 2 and 3).
- The second launch of a Saturn V took place on schedule in the early
morning of April 4, 1968. Known as AS-502, or Apollo 6, the flight was a
success, though two first stage engines shut down prematurely, and the third
stage engine failed to re-ignite after reaching orbit.
Click Here for more information about Apollo-1
Click Here for Newer Missions
Return to KSC Home Page Return to Apollo Page
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Last Updated Friday June 29 11:53:43 EDT 2001
Jim Dumoulin (dumoulin@titan.ksc.nasa.gov)
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