Apollo Victims Honored 30 Years After Disaster

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The families of the three Apollo 1 astronauts killed in a launch pad fire 30 years ago gathered in the rain Monday to remember their courage and contributions to America’s race to the moon.

It was the first public ceremony in decades in memory of Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee, who died inside their burning capsule on Jan. 27, 1967.

“It’s still a sad thing, it really is. Yet it’s uplifting,” said White’s daughter, Bonnie Baer, 40, standing next to brother Ed and 37 other relatives who hugged each other in front of the astronauts’ memorial at Kennedy Space Center. “I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be here, but I’m really glad that I’m here.”

“It took a long time for NASA to recognize there was an Apollo 1, to admit it,” added Lowell Grissom, the astronaut’s younger brother.

Indeed, Monday’s ceremony was privately arranged.

Over the years, NASA has all but ignored the anniversaries of the Apollo 1 fire even while observing just one day later--on Jan. 28--the anniversary of the explosion of space shuttle Challenger.

Few NASA employees attended Monday’s ceremony. The crowd of more than 150 consisted mostly of relatives of the Apollo 1 crew, retired NASA officials, including Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, and tourists who just happened to be wandering by.

A private ceremony was arranged for Monday evening at abandoned Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral Air Station, where the Apollo 1 astronauts died. The flash fire broke out inside their spacecraft during a countdown test, apparently because a damaged wire contacted metal and created sparks.

The Apollo program was put on hold for 20 months as NASA improved the spacecraft. Eventually, 12 men--all colleagues and friends of Grissom, White and Chaffee--walked on the moon.

“Our Apollo 1 astronauts knew the risk that they were taking to achieve their dreams,” Chaffee’s elderly father, Donald, said in a strained voice from his wheelchair. “The best thought that any of us could have . . . are those eight words of the Boy Scout oath: ‘On my honor, I will do my best.’ And you know, the Apollo 1 crew did just that.”