Astronauts John Young (left) and Virgil “Gus” Grissom took part in training exercises as the back-up crew for the Gemini 6 mission.
Grissom commanded the Apollo 1 mission. He and his crew-Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee-were killed when a fire erupted in their capsule during testing. Apollo 1 was originally designated AS-204 but following the fire, the astronauts’ widows requested that the mission be remembered as Apollo 1 and following missions would be numbered subsequent to the flight that never made it into space.
Young is NASA’s longest serving astronaut and his achievements during his 42-year career at NASA are unmatched. He was the first person to fly in space six times and launch seven times, six times from Earth and once from the moon. He is the only astronaut to pilot four different types of spacecraft, flying in the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.Image Credit: NASA