Roger B. Chaffee

Roger Bruce Chaffee (; February 15, 1935 – January 27, 1967) was an American naval officer, aviator and aeronautical engineer who was a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program.

Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he became an Eagle Scout. He graduated from Central High School in 1953, and accepted a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship. He began his college education at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he was involved in the fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma. He transferred to Purdue University in 1954, continuing his involvement in Phi Kappa Sigma serving as chapter president in 1956 and obtaining his private pilot's license.

After graduating from Purdue in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Chaffee completed his Navy training and was commissioned as an ensign. He began pilot training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, flying aircraft such as the T-34, T-28, and A3D. He became quality and safety control officer for Heavy Photographic Squadron 62 (VAP-62). His time in this unit included taking crucial photos of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, earning him the Air Medal. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1966.

Along with thirteen other pilots, Chaffee was selected to be an astronaut as part of NASA Astronaut Group 3 in 1963. He served as capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for the Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions and received his first spaceflight assignment in 1966 as the third-ranking pilot on Apollo 1. In 1967, he died in a fire along with fellow astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Ed White during a pre-launch test for the mission at what was then the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34, Florida. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and a second Air Medal.

Early life

Roger Bruce Chaffee was born on February 15, 1935, in Grand Rapids, Michigan,

Chaffee was passionate about flying, and had a strong aptitude for science and engineering. To apply those talents, he transferred to Purdue University in the autumn of 1954 to attend the school's well-known aeronautical engineering program.

In 1955, Chaffee took four flying lessons, but he did not have enough money to get his private pilot's license. Two years later, the NROTC sponsored flight training for him to become a naval aviator. He soloed on March 29, 1957, and obtained his private pilot's license on May 24, 1957. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree, with distinction, in aeronautical engineering at Purdue in 1957.

Family

Chaffee met his future wife Martha Louise Horn on a double-blind date in September 1955. They started dating, and he proposed to her on October 12, 1956. They married in Oklahoma City, Martha's hometown, on August 24, 1957. Martha was a homemaker. The couple had two children, Sheryl Lyn (born in 1958) and Stephen Bruce (born in 1961).

Navy service

thumb|alt=refer to caption|Chaffee's Astronaut selection portrait. Note the NASA insignia on the left lapel

After graduation, Chaffee completed his Navy training on August 22, 1957, and received commission as an ensign. Following his honeymoon, he was assigned to the aircraft carrier for a six-week assignment in Norfolk with the Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. By the time Chaffee arrived at the base, the ship had already left port. He temporarily worked at the base until October 1957, when he attended flight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. He started his training by flying the T-28 and the T-34. He was posted to Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, from August 1958 to February 1959 as a part of Advanced Training Unit 212.

NASA career

Selection

In August 1962, Chaffee confided in his family that he had submitted an application for the NASA astronaut training program, and informed his superiors of his desire to train as a test pilot for astronaut status. In mid-1962, he was accepted in the initial pool of 1,800 applicants for the third group of NASA astronauts. Later that year, he was CAPCOM, along with Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Eugene Cernan, for the Gemini 4 mission, in which Ed White performed the first spacewalk by an American.

The crew announcement was made public on March 21, 1966. The two-week flight of Apollo1 was to test the spacecraft systems and the control and ground tracking facilities. The primary and backup crews moved back to the Cape for the last few weeks of training. They had their own living quarters, a private waiter and chef, and gymnasium to remain fit.

thumb|alt=Interior of burned capsule|Charred remains of the Apollo 1 [[Apollo Command/Service Module|Command Module, in which Chaffee was killed along with Grissom and White]]

On Friday, January 27, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were participating in a "plugs-out" countdown demonstration test at Cape Kennedy in preparation for the planned February 21 launch. Chaffee was sitting at the right side of the cabin. The capsule underwent a significant redesign as a result of the disaster. The atmosphere in the cabin was changed from 100% oxygen to a 60% oxygen and 40% nitrogen environment at launch. The astronauts' spacesuits, originally made of nylon, were changed to beta cloth, a non-flammable, highly melt-resistant fabric woven from fiberglass and coated with Teflon. There were other changes, including replacing flammable cabin materials with self-extinguishing ones, and covering plumbing and wiring with protective insulation.

Chaffee and Grissom were buried in Arlington National Cemetery, while White was buried at West Point Cemetery. Chaffee's widow received $100,000 from the life insurance portion of the contract the astronauts signed with two publishing firms so they would have exclusive rights to stories and photographs of the astronauts and their families. She also received $16,250 per year for the life of the contract.

Memorials

right|thumb|alt=refer to caption|Chaffee's name, along with Grissom's and White's, on the [[Space Mirror Memorial]]

Chaffee is memorialized in many ways, from the Chaffee Crater on the far side of the Moon, to the Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. When the Kent County International Airport relocated farther out in suburban Grand Rapids in 1963, the main runway of the original airport was repurposed into a major roadway and named Roger B. Chaffee Boulevard. A short distance northwest of Grand Rapids, the Gerber Scout Reservation dedicated Chaffee Bunkhouse to memorialize him. Another memorial is a hill on Mars, Chaffee Hill, south-southwest of Columbia Memorial Station, part of the Apollo 1 Hills. Regor (Roger spelled backwards), is a seldom-used nickname for the star Gamma Velorum. Grissom used this name, plus two others for White and himself, on his Apollo1 mission planning star charts as a joke, and the succeeding Apollo astronauts kept using the names as a memorial. A terrestrial memorial is Chaffee Island, an artificial island off Long Beach, California, created in 1966 for drilling oil (along with White, Grissom and Freeman Islands). A park in Fullerton, California, was named after Chaffee; parks were also named after his fellow Apollo1 comrades. Chaffee is named with his Apollo1 crewmates on the Space Mirror Memorial, which was dedicated in 1991. Chaffee's name is included on the plaque left on the Moon with the Fallen Astronaut statue in 1971 by the crew of Apollo 15.

The dismantled Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral bears two memorial plaques:

The Roger B. Chaffee scholarship named for him has been awarded annually since 1967 to exceptional students in the Kent Intermediate School District for high school seniors who will be pursuing a career in math and science. Chaffee Hall, an engineering building, was dedicated to him at his alma mater, Purdue University, in 1968. Grissom High School, Ed White Middle School and Chaffee Elementary School in Huntsville, Alabama, were named for the Apollo1 astronauts.

Roger That! is an annual event sponsored by the Grand Rapids Public Museum and Grand Valley State University that celebrates space exploration and the life of Chaffee, who was a Grand Rapids native.

Awards and honors

thumb|Statue of Chaffee in [[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]

Chaffee was awarded the Navy Air Medal for his involvement in Heavy Photographic Squadron 62. He completed 82 classified missions "of paramount military importance to the security of the United States". He was posthumously awarded a second Air Medal. He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1983 and into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, on October 4, 1997. Chaffee and White were awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor posthumously in 1997 (Grissom received the medal in 1978). He was later awarded the NASA Ambassador of Exploration Award for involvement in the U.S. space program in 2007.

On the television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a fictional 24th century spacecraft was named after him, designed by Doug Drexler. They named it after Chaffee as a reminder about the dangers of space exploration. Star Trek and NASA have a long history of collaborations going back to the late 1960s when the television show made its debut.

In 2018 a life-size bronze statue of Chaffee was unveiled outside the Grand Rapids Children's Museum in Chaffee's hometown. His wife, other family members, and astronaut Jack Lousma (a Grand Rapids native) were present for the event.

Notes

References

External links

Lyndon Johnson Condolence letter to Chaffee Family Shapell Manuscript Foundation
Astronautix biography of Roger B. Chaffee