Page 138 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

first American to walk in Project Mercury Along with thirteen other
space. He was then assigned astronauts to be the first pilots, Chaffee was selected
as senior pilot of the first Americans in Space. He was to be an astronaut as part
crewed Apollo mission, also a Project Gemini and of NASA Astronaut Group
Apollo 1. an Apollo program astronaut. 3 in 1963. He served as
As a member of the NASA capsule communicator
He graduated from West
Astronaut Corps, Grissom (CAPCOM) for the Gemini
Point in 1952. was the second American to 3 and Gemini 4 missions and

fly in Space, and first to do so received his first spaceflight
White was awarded
rd
twice. assignment in 1966 as the 3
the NASA Distinguished -ranking pilot on Apollo 1.
Service Medal for his flight in Grissom was the pilot of
Gemini 4 and was then Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty He was posthumously
awarded the Congressional Bell 7), the second American awarded the Congressional
Space Medal of Honor suborbital flight, on July 21, Space Medal of Honor and a
posthumously. 1961. second Air Medal

Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was the first crewed mission of the United States Apollo
program, the undertaking to land the first men on the Moon. Planned as the first low Earth
orbital test of the Apollo command and service module, to launch on February 21, 1967, the
mission never flew; a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station
Launch Complex 34 on January 27 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus"
Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the command
module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was made official by NASA in their honor
after the fire.

Immediately after the fire, NASA convened the Apollo 204 Accident Review Board to determine
the cause of the fire, and both houses of the United States Congress conducted their
own committee inquiries to oversee NASA's investigation. The ignition source of the fire was
determined to be electrical, and the fire spread rapidly due to combustible nylon material, and
the high pressure, pure oxygen cabin atmosphere. Rescue was prevented by the plug
door hatch, which could not be opened against the internal pressure of the cabin. Because the
rocket was unfueled, the test had not been considered hazardous, and emergency
preparedness for it was poor.
Manned Apollo flights were suspended for 20 months while the command module's hazards
were addressed. However, the development and uncrewed testing of the lunar module (LM)
and Saturn V rocket continued. The Saturn IB launch vehicle for Apollo 1, SA-204, was used for
the first LM test flight, Apollo 5. The first successful crewed Apollo mission was flown by
Apollo 1's backup crew on Apollo 7 in October 1968.
Note: Hard to believe that all three of the Apollo 1 astronauts were cousins!

References:
1. Relative Finder, associated with FamilySearch, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
2. Wikipedia.org
3. Learn more – Tribute to Apollo 1
4. LDS Family Tree attached

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