Posted on 01/27/2022 7:03:18 AM PST by Kaslin
It is easy to be so focused on getting things right as regarding working and efficiency that what could go wrong is not given much attention, and with overconfidence in the ability to handle it fostering such. I think some warned of the dangers of a outside opening hatch, and any fire control person could see the dangers of 100% OX atmosphere. A simple evacuation valve while flooding it with CO2 (since the astronauts where in space suits) during test could have been a solution.
I remember that day very well. We grieved as a Nation. I still tear-up when I think of that incident.
I do not see an explanation.
The issue with pure oxygen at diving depth was physiological, but I do not recall the exact details and will have to look it up.
The culture began its long downward spiral into feminization when westward expansion was finished and the urban lifestyle came to the fore. Since politics is downstream of culture - here we are in a complete state of chaos - like a hysterical woman
The article states that cabin pressure was more than 1 atm for some reason.
North American was firmly of the opinion that the weight savings wasn't worth the risk, but NASA formally changed the spec in the contract in 1962. NASA wouldn't budge, even when there was a fire in the command module's environmental control until while it was bring built in 1966. Which prompted North American to re-evaluate the all possible sources of ignition and the location of all potentially flammable materials within the module. But these changes were only made to the Block II spacecraft, the ones that would go to the moon, not to Block I, which would remain in earth orbit (such as Apollo 1).
Then they chose to pressure-test the craft with 16 psi pure oxygen at sea level to replicate the pressure differential of the low-pressure pure O2 atmosphere in space.
After Apollo 1 they still didn't change the remaining Apollos. To do so would have taken considerable time and might have let the USSR get to the moon first.
The Russians did in fact have an unmanned lunar lander already in orbit when Apollo 11 entered moon orbit (Lunar 15). It was supposed to land softly, take soil samples and return them to earth but apparently the roughness of the lunar surface overwhelmed its altitude sensors and it crash-landed while Neil and Buzz were on the moon. If Lunar 15 had been successful, in typical Russian disinformation, the Soviets would have claimed that they did it better because they retrieved the same lunar soil samples as the American had, but with a much simpler and less costly spacecraft that didn't put human life at risk.
After the fire, instead of modifying the onboard systems on the remaining Apollos, NASA just pumped the spacecraft full of a high-pressure oxygen-nitrogen mix while it was on the launch pad. The excess pressure would be bled out on ascent, leaving nothing but pure low-pressure oxygen for the remainder of the trip. Which in essence was a gamble that if there was going to be a fire, it would happen early in the flight. So even after the warnings from Apollo 1, all of the Apollos that went to the moon got there with a pure oxygen atmosphere.
“If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.”
-- Virgil "Gus" Grissom
“Sacrifices must be made!”
-- dying words of Otto Lillienthal, the first aviator
The Soviets used regular air in their spacecraft. But their boosters (Saturn V excepted) were more powerful, their spacecraft heavier and cruder construction, and maybe they didn't wish to have to engineer around the considerable hazards of an O2 environment. One spark and almost anything will catch fire and burn.
Excellent post—and the first one on this thread that correctly questioned the official narrative.
There is a lot more wrong with the official narrative....including the possibility of sabotage that was kept secret.
See post #14
Ironically it was because of Gus Grissom that the hatch was bolted on
When his Mercury capsule splashed down in the ocean the explosive bolts on the cockpit door prematurely detonated. He almost drowned before rescue. To prevent that NASA designed the capsule door to be bolted on.
Law of Unintended Consequences.
They told the same lie for the Challenger disaster.
Emergency oxygen packs were manually activated after the explosion, and there are voice recordings all the way down to the water.
Side note, the shuttle was originally designed to have the crew compartment separate from the cargo section and parachute to safety. The provisions for explosive bolts were removed, and the heavy parachutes were eliminated.
Still, the original intended joint was were the crew compartment and the exploding main body with all that fuel and oxidizer parted ways...
Extra pressure is the danger issue for scuba diving with pure oxygen.
From memory, pure oxygen was forbidden below 10 meters.
That causes oxygen toxicity and potential death, but I cannot recall the specific reactions and the chain of events.
Too sleepy to research this issue at the moment. I will refresh my memory this evening.
Virgil “Gus” Grissom was part of the original Mercury program and then the Gemini program. More than anyone at the time, Grissom *was* the NASA space program. John Glenn had gone into politics. Alan Shepard couldn’t fly due to health concerns.
He made many public appearances while in and around Houston. He had a working-class nickname and seemed both very approachable yet mythical at the same time. He always seemed to speak the company line in public but, behind the scenes could be very blunt and opinionated - just as you’d want him to be because he knew simple mistakes in that business could be deadly.
Although I mourned most for Grissom and White, I felt sorriest for Chaffee because he died before he had a chance to go up and experience what this was all about.
It’s painful to remember tragedies like Apollo 1 but it is a painful event that needs remembering.
Someone I know who was in the Air Force said they did not die quickly.
The videos clips cut off after the cry of “We got a fire” because of the screams of the astronauts.
Those who were listening to that were never the same. Most ended up with severe drinking issues.
A lot of people blamed Gus for blowing open the hatch and sinking the crew capsule.
I recall being really depressed after that incident because all the flight data and engineering evidence went straight to the bottom of the ocean.
It was since salvaged and exonerated him.
"While being interviewed for a NASA oral history project, astronaut Tom Stafford wisely noted that Gemini astronauts using an ejection seat would be immersed in the same 16 psi, pure oxygen environment that led to the Apollo 1 fire and took the lives of Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffe, and Ed White.
“We would have been two Roman candles shooting off into the sand and palmetto trees, because we were 15 or 16 psi, pure oxygen, soaking in that for an hour-and-a-half. It would have burned the suits” Stafford said. “Everything was soaked in oxygen. So thank God. That was another thing - NASA never tested it under the conditions that they would have had if they would have had to eject. They did have some tests at China Lake where they had a simulated mock-up of Gemini capsule, but what they did is fill it full of nitrogen. They didn't have it filled full of oxygen in the sled test they had.”
Most who listened were part of the team that designed, built, oversaw the construction, set up the test protocols, or supervised the test.
Every single one of them knew they failed to recognize the risk, may have improperly soldered a wire, missed a flaw in the design, might have lost a tool or loose nut in the capsule, failed to specify a pure oxygen use component, noticed a possible problem and didn't raise the issue, or didn't push hard enough when their supervisor blew them off.
Or worse, was that supervisor.
Yeah. Never the same.
I'm just glad the valve my dad built that was designed to kill an astronaut, that flew on every lander mission, never needed to be used.
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