It has been 50 years since the Apollo 1 fire killed Roger Chaffee at Cape Kennedy’s Launch Complex 34 in Florida. Three astronauts lost their lives in the Apollo 1 accident when a flash fire occurred in the command module during a launch pad test. In the rafts at right are astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee, foreground. Ed White III calls his dad a “renaissance man.” Astronaut White went to West Point, played soccer and ran track, and almost qualified for the Olympic team. Command pilot Virgil Grissom speaks during an Aug. 4, 1966, news conference in Downey, Calif., with a mock-up of the Apollo spacecraft.

Source: Washington Post January 26, 2017 22:55 UTC