Other sensors detected a brief power surge. Then came the first call from inside Apollo 1. It was Chaffee’s voice. And it was just one word: “Fire!” Now the calls came thick and fast.

The Apollo 1 fire was the first major deadly disaster in the history of the U.S. space program. Apollo 1 was supposed to be the first flight that NASA would conduct to prepare for a crewed landing ...

Seventeen astronauts were lost in the Apollo 1 fire and the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. The crew of Apollo 1 during training in Florida in January 1967. From left, Virgil "Gus ...