17 astronauts have died in the space program. The first three perished in an accident on Jan. 27, 1967. Virgil Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were training for the first Apollo mission. It was scheduled for Feb. 21. “Gus” Grissom was the team leader. He was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts (feature in the movie “The Right Stuff”) and had flown on Liberty Bell 7, the last flight. He ranked third in fame behind Alan Sheppard and John Glenn because his hatch blew when the spacecraft hit the ocean. Officially an accident, but questioned by many, his career was rejuvenated with Gemini 3. White made the first space walk in history on Gemini 4. Roger Chaffee was a rookie. All three were skeptical about the new Apollo spacecraft. To emphasize this Grissom hung a lemon in the flight simulator. On Jan. 27, they were conducting a launch rehearsal. A foul odor in the oxygen system caused an hour delay and there were communications problems throughout. At 6:31 A.M., one word indicated a problem – “Fire”. This was followed by scuffling noises and “We’ve got a fire in the cockpit”. The last transmission was something like: “We’ve got a bad fire – Let’s get out. We’re burning up.” Ironically, unlike Grissom’s hatch in Mercury 7, this hatch could not be opened. The trio died from cardiac arrest due to carbon monoxide. They were badly burned, but that was post mortem. The investigation determined that the fire was caused by a spark in a faulty electric wire. The fire spread rapidly due to the pure oxygen atmosphere and the flammable nylon netting and foam pads. Improvements were made to make the capsule safer. The actual mission was not launched until October, 1968. NASA would not have another fatality until Jan. 28, 1986.
https://www.space.com/17338-apollo-1.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1
White, Grissom, and Chaffee
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