Background
Roger Bruce Chaffee was born on February 15, 1935 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. He was the son of Donald L. Chaffee.
Roger Bruce Chaffee was born on February 15, 1935 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. He was the son of Donald L. Chaffee.
After graduating from Central High School in Grand Rapids, he attended the Illinois Institute of Technology for one year and then transferred to Purdue University; he received a B. S. in aeronautical engineering in 1957.
Commissioned an ensign in the navy that same year, he went through flight training and was subsequently assigned to a photographic squadron in Florida. In January 1963, Chaffee entered the Air Force Institute of Technology to work toward a master's degree. When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it would recruit a third group of astronaut trainees, he applied and was selected on October 18, 1963. By the time he had completed basic astronaut training, the Gemini program was well under way and Apollo flights were being planned. Like his fellow astronauts, Chaffee was assigned one technical area of primary responsibility, his being flight-control communications systems and spacecraft control systems. On March 21, 1966, he was named to the crew of the first Apollo spacecraft to be tested in flight.
He and his wife, Martha Louise Horn, had two children.