The Apollo Program of the 1960's was the most complex civil engineering effort up to that time. It was also a component of the Cold War and literally became a "Space Race" to beat the Russians to the Moon. The first manned Apollo mission, officially known as AS-204, had an ambitious launch schedule, but spacecraft problems caused several slips of the launch date. By January 1967, NASA hoped to launch the crew by mid-February.
During the evening of 27 January 1967, the crew was performing several tests inside the spacecraft while at Launch Pad 34 at the Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft hatch was closed and the crew was in a 100% pure oxygen environment. At 6:31 pm, the crew reported that a fire had started inside the spacecraft. Within seconds in the pure oxygen atmosphere, the fire raged out of control. Support crews were unable to open the hatch in time due to the limitations of its design and a breach of the spacecraft hull which allowed flames to engulf the gantry area around the vehicle. The crew died of asphyxiation within seconds.
The source of the ignition was never precisely determined but most likely was an electrical arc near the floor in the lower section of the left-hand equipment bay. Manned Apollo flights would not resume for some 20 months while corrections and added safety measures were put in place.
very few complete crew signed prints exist due to their untimely deaths. the print is signed ed white, gus grissom, roger chaffee.