Roger B. Chaffee

Astronaut Apollo 1

Roger B. Chaffee never got any higher than 300 feet in an American spacecraft but his courage and sacrifice made an indelible mark on the Apollo program.

Chaffee, as part of the Apollo 1 crew, had the primary duty of communications. As the fire raged in the Apollo 1 spacecraft Chaffee worked hard to keep communications open and report the situation, most likely knowing that he would be the last one out of the spacecraft should the hatch be opened. He died in his seat.

Roger Chaffee was born on February 15, 1935 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His father Don was a barnstorming pilot who shared his love of flight with his son. Roger’s first flight was a short one at the age of seven but from then on he set his sights on the skies. In his youth as a Boy Scout Chaffee achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He was also an excellent student maintaining a 92 percent average in High School with interests in mathematics and science. He graduated in the top fifth of his class.

In September 1953, Chaffee weighed his college options and while receiving an appointment to the Naval Academy in Annapolis he decided to enroll at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago instead. He was also a part of the school’s Naval ROTC program. Chaffee made the Dean’s list in his freshmen year. After his first year he transferred to Purdue University, where he felt he had a better chance to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering. A degree that with his with his talent for science and math plus his Naval ROTC training would give him a better possibility to pursue a career in the thing he loved the most; flying.

It did. Chaffee stared flight training in a Cessna 172 during his final semester at Purdue and graduated with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1957. Upon graduation and the completion of his Navel ROTC program Roger Chaffee was commissioned as an Ensign with the United States Navy in the fall. Two days later he married Martha Horn whom he met at Purdue. The couple honeymooned in Colorado before he reported to Pensacola, Florida to begin his flight training. He started training by flying the T-34 and T-28 aircrafts. He then moved to Texas to continue his flight training on a F9F Cougar jet. He finished his education with Aircraft Carrier flight training, a skill any aviator would say is the most difficult to master. Roger B. Chaffee earned his wings in 1959.

Chaffee was assigned to various posts and specialized in aerial reconnaissance. In fact, his talents allowed him to be one of the youngest pilots to fly the A3D photo reconnaissance aircraft. Stationed at the Jacksonville, Florida NAS Chaffee flew a number of reconnaissance flights over Cuba. During one such flight he took critical photos of the missile buildup within that nation. While still given credit even today for those photos Chaffee never flew the U2 spy plane to obtain them, despite the popular notion.

In 1962, Chaffee was given the chance to pursue a Master's degree in Reliability Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB. Also during this time Chaffee, who had applied to be a NASA Astronaut, was undergoing the usual barrage of physical and physiological testing. Tests that Chaffee found very distasteful and later commented that "They managed to thoroughly humiliate us at least three times a day!"

Chaffee never finished his Master’s degree because on October 13th 1963 he became part of NASA’s third group of Astronauts. Training for this third group began in 1964 and was as rigorous as it was for the first two groups. There were intensive lectures in a variety of fields which introduced this third group to a through study of spacecraft systems, astronomy, survival training in all types of terrain and training for weightlessness aboard a KC-135 just to name a few. In the little time off Chaffee had, he would spend his time hunting, pursuing his hobby of gun collecting and doing home improvement projects. He was particularly good at home improvement going so far as landscaping the outside with a professional’s touch and wiring the inside so that the stereo could be heard in every room.

The third group of astronauts was unofficially called the Apollo group. They were selected to increase the corps for the Apollo Program. As usual the competition to get a flight among this group was fierce and three astronauts were fortunate enough to fly in the Gemini program, David Scott, Richard Gordon and Buzz Aldrin. Knowing that he would not fly aboard a Gemini spacecraft Chaffee set a goal of being on the first crew to fly the Apollo spacecraft.

On March 21st 1966 Roger Chaffee earned what he was hoping for a seat aboard Apollo 1. This would be an open ended test flight of the new Apollo spacecraft. Chaffee was especially pleased to have Gus Grissom as the commander of this flight and Grissom soon learned of Chaffee’s excellent engineering skills saying "Roger is one of the smartest boys I've ever run into. He's just a damn good engineer. There's no other way to explain it. When he starts talking to engineers about their systems, he can just tear those damn guys apart. I've never seen one like him. He's really a great boy."

Training for Roger Chaffee was not just about generalities any more. He was now training for an actual mission as part of a crew. In fact, Chaffee felt so good about his commander that he started adopting some of Grissom’s mannerisms. As usual he tackled his training with a relentless vigor and while not cocky has was confident in his abilities. He was also ready to remove the title of “Rookie Astronaut” from his resume. Unfortunately, Roger B. Chaffee never got that chance.

Three hours after the funeral of his Apollo 1 commander Roger Chaffee was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery next to Gus Grissom. He was survived by his wife Martha and his two children. Because he had never flown in space the US Astronaut Hall of Fame decided against his induction. No less a person than Betty Grissom righted that wrong. And almost twenty years After Gus Grissom received his, Roger Chaffee and his crewmate Edward White were both posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.