Roger was born 25 February 1935 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. Chaffee.
    He has brown hair and brown eyes; height 5’ 91/2", and weight 152 lbs.
    After graduating from Central High School in Grand Rapids, he pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University in 1957. He held membership in Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Society, Sigma Gamma Tau and Phi Kappa Sigma.

NASA Astronaut Corps. – Chaffee was a Lieutenant Commander who entered the Navy in 1957. He served as safety officer and quality control officer for Heavy Photographic Squadron 62 at the Jacksonville, FL Naval Air Station. In January 1963, he entered the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to work on a master of science degree in reliability engineering. He logged more than 2,300 hours flying time, including more than 2,000 in jet aircraft.

Roger married Martha L. Horn of Oklahoma City, OK whose parents are Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Horn. Martha and Roger had two children: Sheryl L., born 17 November 1958, and Stephen B., born 3 July 1961. His hobbies include guns.

On 27 January 1967, the crew of the Apollo 1 mission were training for their first Apollo flight which would be earth orbiting.  It was scheduled to launch 21 February.  There was a flash fire which consumed the spacecraft.  The Apollo program was put on hold while the incident was investigated.  Part of the problem was thought to be due to the amount of flammable materials in the cabin and this material was replaced with self-extinguishing materials and the hatch was changed to open outward instead of inward which would save precious time.