America Looks Back At Apollo 1 Tragedy 57 Years Ago Today

It’s been 57 years since the launch pad fire trapped and killed three Apollo Astronauts in their spacecraft; a day that surviving family members still remember.

On January 27, 1967, three Apollo astronauts were killed during a routine preflight rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the first major deadly disaster in the history of the U.S. space program.

For Lowell Grissom, the yearly remembrances bring mixed emotions, “I think it’s just a sense of sadness and pride.”

His brother Gus was one of the original seven astronauts and the Apollo one mission commander, “Many believe he would have been the first man to walk on the moon…had he lived just weeks earlier.”

Apollo 1 was supposed to be the first flight that NASA would conduct to prepare for a crewed landing on the moon.

Gus Grissom said if anything happened to his crew, they hoped the program would continue, “I think he’d be very proud that it’s still continuing and just because of the accident, nothing stopped, you know, where they laid the foundation. It really meant something.” 

Saturday is the anniversary date of the tragedy.