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Martha Horn Chaffee was the
wife of Roger Chaffee who is one of the astronauts honored by
the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. Roger was selected to fly
on Apollo 1 and lost his life in a flash fire during a simulated
countdown to the scheduled launch.
Martha met Roger at Purdue
University when he was majoring in Aeronautical Engineering and
she was homecoming queen. They married in August of 1957 and
had two children, Sheryl and Stephen. She worked as a mother
and homemaker to support his career. Roger’s selection to be
among the third group of astronauts had to be kept secret until
the official announcement was made by NASA. For Martha, this
was the hardest secret she ever kept. She continued to raise
their children and remained involved in the space industry after
the Apollo 1 accident. Subsequently, she opened a travel agency
and purchased a small horse ranch.
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