Look at a picture of the Apollo 11 launch and you'll probably notice the rocket's pointed tip and the fire coming from the five giant engines in the first stage of the 36-story-tall Saturn V rocket.

By 1967, NASA had wrapped up the Mercury and Gemini programs and was preparing for the launch of the first Apollo-series spacecraft.

Three astronauts were sealed inside a spacecraft preparing for a simulated liftoff to practice what would happen for real less than a month later. But Air Force Col. Virgil I. Grissom, Air Force Col.

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