Apollo 1

In 1967, while preparing for the first flight of the program that would eventually carry man to the moon and back, there was an accident. The crew of Apollo 1 were in their capsule on the launch pad when there was a fire. None of them escaped that fire, and all three of them died. That fire led to numerous safety improvements in the program and man did eventually make it to the moon. After that disaster, the site was left in place as a monument to those men. It is one of the places that you visit on the history tour at Kennedy Space Center.