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01/27/2005: Today in History department:
Today in history:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756.
The sitcom Laverne and Shirley premiered in 1976.
In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White, II, and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire in the command module of their spacecraft, which was undergoing tests on the launch pad. The spacecraft was then known as Apollo mission AS-204 [ApolloSaturn-204]. At the request of Grissom's widow, the spacecraft was retroactively designated Apollo I. Funeral services were conducted for Grissom, White and Chaffee on January 31, 1967.
Len on 01.27.05 @ 01:44 PM CST
Replies: 2 comments
on Thursday, January 27th, 2005 at 2:16 PM CST, Karen said
Sami's in good company then. :-)
on Thursday, January 27th, 2005 at 3:12 PM CST, mike hollihan said
I grew up in Huntsville during the height of the space race. I can remember the fire and their deaths, as it had a great impact on our community. The city was building three new schools at the time and named them in honor of those astronauts: Chafee Elementary, White Junior High and Grissom High. I went to Ed White, as did my brothers and sister. My sister later went to Grissom and my brother's sons go to Chafee.
It was a terrible thing made even more horrifying when the causes -- over-oxygenation of the cabin, bad escape design -- came to light.