Roger B. Chaffee - Military Career

Military Career

Following graduation, Chaffee completed his Navy training on August 22, 1957 and was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. He would ultimately rise to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. After attending flight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida and Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, Chaffee was awarded his aviator wings in early 1959. Chaffee was given a variety of assignments and participated in numerous training duties over the next few years, spending the majority of his time in photo reconnaissance squadrons. He was stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, serving as safety officer and quality control officer for Heavy Photographic Squadron 62 (VAP-62) flying the A3D-2P (later RA-3B) Skywarrior.

In the book Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon, it is claimed that he flew the U-2 spy plane, a U.S. Air Force aircraft which took the pictures of Soviet missiles in Cuba which President Kennedy used on television on October 22, 1962. However, during this time Chaffee actually flew the U.S. Navy A3D-2P/RA-3B (a reconnaissance version of the carrier-based Douglas Skywarrior heavy attack/nuclear strike bomber). He was officially recognized for his service during the Cuban Missile Crisis with VAP-62, but his exact role is unclear and the Skywarrior was never employed in any overflights of Cuban territory during the crisis.

In mid-1962, Chaffee was accepted in the initial pool of 1,800 applicants for the third group of NASA astronauts. In January 1963, he entered the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio to work on a master of science degree in reliability engineering. While at AFIT, Chafee would continue to participate in astronaut candidate testing as the pool of candidates dropped to 271 in mid-1963.