 Apollo 1 , initially designated AS @-@ 204 , was the first manned mission of the United States Apollo program , which had as its ultimate goal a manned lunar landing . The low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command / Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21 , 1967 . A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members — Command Pilot Virgil I. " Gus " Grissom , Senior Pilot Edward H. White II , and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee — and destroyed the Command Module ( CM ) . The name Apollo 1 , chosen by the crew , was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24 , 1967 . 
