January 27, 1967
The #Apollo1 fire was a tragic and galvanising moment for #NASA, in which three astronauts were killed during a test of spacecraft power systems less than a month before they were scheduled to launch on the first crewed flight of the #Apollo programme.

Two of the astronauts had flown on previous missions: Gus Grissom became the second American in space during Project Mercury, while Ed White was the first American spacewalker on #Gemini 4. The third, Roger Chaffee, was a rookie who served as CapCom during White's pioneering EVA.

The high-pressure oxygen environment of the capsule was found to have played a foreseeable part in the tragedy, along with inadequate safety features and materials. The event caused a shift in NASA's culture and birthed Gene Kranz' legendary 'tough and competent' speech.

In the words of another NASA legend, Chris Kraft: “had that not happened, we would never have gotten to the moon. That interim period following the fire was the only thing that saved our ass... it brought together the whole organisation from top to bottom in NASA.”

We remember these fallen astronauts, on this solemn day in human spaceflight.