The prestigious scholarship is in honor of the Grand Rapids astronaut who perished with two others in the Apollo 1 mission on Jan. 27 ... Edward H. White, when a flash fire occurred during a launch ...

On January 27, 1967, during a practice launch countdown, a flash fire erupted ... did NASA realize that the fire had been a tragedy waiting to happen. After Apollo 1, the space program continued ...

Studying Apollo 1’s scorched interior, the investigators determined that once the fire began—probably ignited by an electrical arc from damaged wires below and to the left of Grissom’s couch ...