On This Day in American History |
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On January 27, three NASA astronauts, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chafee are killed in a horrific fire during a launch simulation exercise for the Apollo 1 mission. The tragedy caused NASA to reassess many aspects of the Apollo program, and while it was a major setback, in December of 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to reach lunar orbit, and less than a year after that, Apollo 11 delivered the first men to the surface of the moon. |
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