Posted on 01/27/2015 2:45:48 AM PST by Ready4Freddy
January 27, 1967
The Apollo I fire
R.I.P.
Although it was never determined conclusively just what the ignition source was, the use of a pure oxygen environment greatly exacerbated the problem.
The tragedy resulted in national agony and soul-searching, and NASA's redesigning the capsule from scratch in a very short period of time.
After redesign, the first successful manned Apollo mission was flown by the original Apollo 1 backup crew, Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele, Walter Cunningham, on Apollo 7 barely 1 1/2 years later, in October, 1968.
This was to have been USAF Lt Col Gus Grissom's 3rd flight into space, having been the 2nd American into space during Project Mercury, and Command Pilot on Gemini 3.
USAF Lt Col Ed White had flown as Pilot of Gemini 4, and was the first American to perform an EVA, or 'spacewalk'.
This was to have been USN Lt Cmdr Roger Chaffee's first flight into space. Chaffee had actually been on the backup crew, and swapped places with Eisele after the latter had been injured in KC-135 weightlessness exercises.
Military test pilots all, these men were über-smart guys with Mechanical or Aeronautical Engineering degrees from some of the best programs in the country.
They were among the best and the brightest from NASA astronaut selection Groups 1 (Mercury), Group 2 (Gemini), and Group 3 (Apollo), respectively.
Apollo 1's mission was 'only' to test launch operations, ground tracking and control facilities and the performance of the Apollo-Saturn launch assembly. No getting fancy with the LM which hadn't been finished yet, and in any case, the Block I CM couldn't dock with the LM, having been designed before the lunar orbit rendezvous landing strategy was chosen.
Given the crew's bona fides and selection for the first manned Apollo flight, it's safe to say that the list of men who ultimately set foot on the moon would have been somewhat different had they survived.
If you're not old enough to remember Apollo I, it's difficult to imagine the effect their deaths had on the nation's psyche.
We paid the ultimate tribute to their service and deaths by landing men on the Moon just 2 1/2 years later.
Stupid engineering - the hatch opened inward, no explosive bolts. When the fire started pressure built up against the hatch, could not open it ...
How sad....
It always annoyed me that Gus Grissom was portrayed as a screw up in “The Right Stuff.”
I remember that flight: the "Revolt Of The Astronauts".
Mission Control had them jumping through so many hoops and monkey-tasks that the crew totally shut down and refused to follow anything not on the flight plan.
All three were banished from flight status and never flew in space again.
KGB payback for the suspected CIA role in the Nedelin incident.....at least that’s the tin foil gang supposition.
Col. Grissom is missed.
I was the little kid who they used to bring with them when they went fishing.
Yeah. Grissom was portrayed as a coward when all the other said he was the bravest man there.
If Grissom really did what the movie said, he wouldn’t have been allowed in the program again.
RIP Gus...
Good gosh. I remember that so well. I recall watching the television for what seemed like hours, with the video of the rocket on the gantry with the spotlights on it.
I agree with the sentiments about Grissom.
No way...really? That is great...but must have been tough for you as a kid.
I thought the post-mortem found that the fire started when a wiring cluster under Grissom’s couch chafed from rubbing against the frame, and that when the circuit was activated, it sparked.
Maybe I’m imagining that.
I think it was concluded that the space capsule was lost due to his starting to panic while the capsule was still on the surface of the ocean, and he opened the hatch to climb out (fearing the capsule would sink — with him in it) before the recovery crew could get to him, which allowed the capsule to fill with water and sink.
I’m not criticizing Grissom, I’m just saying what the conclusion was after the event.
Grissom was an engineer’s engineer.
He was very involved in the design of the Gemini capsule, making it the pilot-controllable flying machine that the astronauts needed, but were denied with Mercury.
He also developed the multi-axis thrusters needed for docking maneuvers.
More involved than any of the other astronauts, he made sure that we learned in Gemini the skills needed for rendezvous to make Apollo possible.
It wasn’t for nothing that he was selected as Command Pilot for the first manned Apollo mission.
Gus was not as depicted in The Right Stuff. He was a true hero.
“I think it was concluded ”
NASA cleared him of any wrong-doing and did not allege he acted in a panic.
Thanks for that post...The “Right Stuff” was described by one of the original astromauts as “Animal House in Space”. They deserved better.
Publicly, the issue was never fully resolved and the news media and rival astronauts sometimes treated it as a question mark against Grissom. Privately, NASA's managers knew better because Grissom's hand did not have the characteristic bruise that was always made when the hatch release mechanism was triggered by an astronaut.
The cause of the spontaneous hatch release remains unknown even after the recent recovery and conservation of Grissom's lost Mercury capsule.
You’re welcome, Yorklik. They were very intelligent, educated men.
They were serious men doing serious work, with courage not often seen.
Hopping on top an Atlas rocket, or even any that followed, wasn’t for the faint of heart or foolish.
Though we weren’t particularly aware of the numerous failures our German rocket scientists had (same w/ the V2), we knew it was a very dangerous business. Finding out somewhat later about the years of rocket failures greatly increased my appreciation and awe of Alan Shepherd strapping in.
Good remember, Old Sarge.
They had some motion sickness, and all 3 had colds (that Schirra brought along), that probably added to their ‘testiness’.
That said, Schirra didn’t suffer fools gladly, and didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He insisted on having the old Mercury & Gemini McDonnell Pad Chief on his Apollo launch (new contractor North American had provided a new guy for Apollo I), so NA hired him. And he remained for all the rest of the Apollo launches.
Schirra had announced his retirement before the launch, but Eisele and Cunningham were effectively banned.
Schirra was the first American to go into space 3 times, and the only one to fly in Mercury/Gemini/Apollo.
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