An opinion piece from the local paper:
http://www.myeasternshoremd.com/...
There's a phrase that's become so popular in recent weeks, it's re-clichéd: "failure to launch."
Failure to launch? Apollo 1 was a "failure to launch."
In January 1967, three astronauts were killed while training for the first Apollo mission, in their capsule, on the launch pad.
NASA's plan, of course, was to go to the moon. But not without taking small steps first.
Veteran astronauts Edward White II, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee were picked as the first crew to take an Apollo capsule into orbit. Instead, they died in an accident.
The disaster was so severe that President Lyndon Johnson spoke to the nation about it on TV.
It's a shame that NASA closed down the program. Maybe, someday, we'll get to the moon.