Roger B Chaffee

Astronaut

Birthday February 15, 1935

Birth Sign Aquarius

Birthplace Michigan

DEATH DATE Jan 27, 1967 (31)

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About

A posthumous recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, this NASA astronaut was killed during the 1967 Apollo 1 disaster, in which a fire broke out during a pre-flight demonstration at Florida's Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral) Air Force Station.

Before Fame

Prior to his work with NASA, Chaffee attended the United States Naval Academy and the Illinois Institute of Technology and received an Aeronautical Engineering degree from Purdue University. He went on to become a U.S. Navy aviator.

Trivia

He was one of the three capsule communicators assigned to the 1965 Gemini 4 mission.

Family Life

He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His marriage to Martha Horn began in 1957 and produced children named Sheryl and Stephen.

Associated With

He and Virgil Gus Grissom were two of the three astronauts killed aboard the Apollo 1; Edward H. White was the third.