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Fallen Apollo 1 crew honored on Mars January 27, 2004 -- NASA memorialized the Apollo 1 crew, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, by dedicating the hills surrounding the Spirit Mars rover landing site to the fallen astronauts. The crew of Apollo 1 perished in a flash fire during a launch pad test of their spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center 37 years ago today. "Through recorded history explorers have had both the honor and responsibility of naming significant landmarks," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "Gus, Ed and Roger's contributions, as much as their sacrifice, helped make our giant leap for mankind possible. Today, as America strides towards our next giant leap, NASA and the Mars Exploration Rover team created a fitting tribute to these brave explorers and their legacy," said O'Keefe. Newly christened "Grissom Hill" is located 4.7 miles (7.5 kilometers) southwest of Spirit's position. "White Hill" is 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) northwest, and "Chaffee Hill" is 8.9 miles (14.3 kilometers) south-southwest of the robot explorer's location. Lt. Colonel Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom was a U.S. Air Force test pilot when he was selected in 1959 as one of NASA's Original Seven Mercury Astronauts. On July 21, 1961, Grissom became the second American and third human in space, when he piloted Liberty Bell 7 on a 15-minute sub-orbital flight. On March 23, 1965, he became the first human to make the flight to space twice, when he commanded the first manned flight of NASA's two-seater spacecraft, Gemini 3. As the commander of the first manned Apollo mission, Grissom perished along with White and Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, VA. Captain Edward White was a U.S. Air Force test pilot when selected in 1962 as a member of the "Next Nine," NASA's second astronaut selection. On June 3, 1965, White became the first American to walk in space during the flight of Gemini 4. He is buried at his alma mater, the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. Selected in 1963 as a member of NASA's third astronaut class, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Roger Chaffee worked as a Gemini capsule communicator. He also researched flight control communications systems, instrumentation systems, and attitude and translation control systems for the Apollo Branch of the Astronaut office. On March 21, 1966, he was selected as pilot for the first three-man Apollo flight. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. © 1999-2008 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. Questions? E-mail contact@collectspace.com

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