[WestPacSailor]

Well, we lost one Apollo crew out of sixteen - the first one, in what was intended to be the first shakedown flight.

Important to note that the crew of Apollo 1 was killed on the ground, during a practice launch. They never left the ground.

For those not familiar with the Apollo 1 accident click this link.

[Mamzelle]

Not to mention the ones that died as training pilots. Even though the astronaut program didn't need pilots as much as they needed engineer/troubleshooting/techs--the powers that be insisted that they be pilots, too. Like T38s had a whole heck of a lot to do with space flight, but it was an *ego* thing with a certain somebody who happened to be a pilot.