Apollo astronauts, left to right, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, pose in front of Launch Complex 34, which housed the Saturn 1 rocket scheduled for the Apollo 1 mission. The mission was to be the first crewed flight of the Apollo program with a planned launch on Feb. 21, 1967.
On Jan. 27, tragedy struck on the launch pad during a preflight test. Astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the command module.
Image credit: NASA
Jan. 2, 1967