1967 – Apollo 1 – VirgiI (Gus) Grissom, Edward H. White II,
and Roger B. Chaffee die in fire during a launch simulation test. Tragedy struck on the launch pad for Apollo 204 (AS-204), which was scheduled to be the first Apollo manned mission, and would have been launched on February 21, 1967. The astronauts lost their lives (asphixiation) when a fire swept through the Command Module (CM). The review board identified five major factors which combined to cause the fire and the astronauts’ deaths: an ignition source most probably related to exposed electrical wiring and leak-prone plumbing; pure oxygen atmosphere at high pressure; flammable materials in the cabin; a hatch cover which could not be quickly removed at high pressure; inadequate emergency preparedness.
1967 – The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of
the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.
Birthdays
1941 – Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley Astronomer and cosmologist whose research made fundamental contributions to the astronomical understanding of how galaxies evolve, grow and die. In 1978 she became the first woman to teach astronomy at Yale University. (d. melanoma, 23 March 1981).