Roger Bruce Chaffee was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut in the Apollo program. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and a second Air Medal. Chaffee’s interest in aerospace was sparked when his father, a former barnstorming pilot, took him on his first flight at the age of seven.
About Roger B. Chaffee in brief
Roger Bruce Chaffee was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut in the Apollo program. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and a second Air Medal. Chaffee’s interest in aerospace was sparked at a young age when his father, a former barnstorming pilot, took him on his first flight at the age of seven. He graduated from Central High School in 1953, and accepted a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship. He transferred to Purdue University in 1954, continuing his involvement in Phi Kappa Sigma and obtaining his private pilot’s license. After graduating from Purdue in 1957, Chaffee completed his Navy training and was commissioned as an ensign. He served as capsule communicator 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 is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, along with his wife, Blanche May Chaffee, and their two children, Donald Lynn Chaffee and Donna Chaffee. The couple had a son, Donald, who was born in 1935 and a daughter, Donna, born in 1941. Roger was the second child of Donald and Blanche, and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His father was diagnosed with scarlet fever, and moved in with his parents in Greenville, Michigan, and later moved to Grand Rapids.
He became an Eagle Scout and earned ten merit badges, for which he was awarded the bronze and gold palms. He had a strong aptitude for science and engineering, and went on to attend Purdue University’s well-known aeronautic engineering program. In 1955, he was hired as a draftsman at a small business near Purdue. He also joined the Tau Beta Pi and Gamma Tau engineering societies, and took classes to teach freshman students to teach math. In 1956, he became a teacher at a high school near Purdue, and in 1957 he was allowed to tour England, Scotland, and France, as a gear cutter. In 1958, he joined the National Aeronautics and Astronautics Association, and became a test pilot for the T-34, T-28, and A3D. In 1959, he received the Air Medal for taking crucial photos of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, earning him the Air Medals. In 1961, he completed his training as a Navy ensign, and was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1966. In 1962, he began pilot training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, flying aircraft such as the T/34 and T/28. In 1963, he reported for an 8-week tour on USS Wisconsin as a part of the NROTC program. The next year, he served on Wisconsin to France, France, and Cuba, and he was then allowed to return to American soil. In 1964, he went on a tour of England, England, and Scotland, but the tour was cut short.
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