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Hundreds honor the three Apollo 1 astronauts who were killed
The Daily Mail ^ | 26 January 2017 | ap

Posted on 01/26/2017 7:16:40 PM PST by mware

Three astronauts were killed in the blaze in Cape Canaveral on January 27, 1967 

Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were trapped in their burning craft 

A small spark created a blaze that burned hotter than 1,000°F (537°C)

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 1967; 196701; 19670127; apollo; apollo1; nasa
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To: dfwgator

And then there was the time one of their huge booster rockets blew up on the launch pad and took out the whole facility.

There were rumors of others.


21 posted on 01/26/2017 7:32:22 PM PST by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: Southside_Chicago_Republican

My dad always thought White would have been the first on the moon if not for that accident.


22 posted on 01/26/2017 7:33:45 PM PST by mware (RETIRED)
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To: mware

Yes. I remember hearing that.


23 posted on 01/26/2017 7:34:14 PM PST by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: mware

Apollo 1 used a pure (100%) oxygen environment in the capsule, which was obviously a recipe for disaster. Apparently NASA thought it would give the astronauts more energy?

After the fire – which until 1986, was the only loss of life in the entire American space program – NASA changed the Apollo capsule atmosphere, mixed with nitrogen down to about 33% oxygen.


24 posted on 01/26/2017 7:36:46 PM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: mware

I know the anniversary is tomorrow but weird that again I read the article in a UK paper.


25 posted on 01/26/2017 7:37:19 PM PST by mware (RETIRED)
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To: mware
If we die we want people to accept it. We are 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.

- Gus Grissom

26 posted on 01/26/2017 7:37:32 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: mware

Quite possibly.


27 posted on 01/26/2017 7:39:07 PM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: left that other site
The Soviets had a cosmonaut trainee burn in an O2 environment, pre-Apollo. Maybe the first person to die in a modern space program.

He tossed an alcohol wipe towards a bin, it missed, and landed on an active hot plate. Probably should mention that he was removed sensor adhesive from his chest with the wipe.

28 posted on 01/26/2017 7:39:31 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: canuck_conservative
As they mentioned in the article. That tragedy probably saved quite a few people, definitely Apollo 13.
29 posted on 01/26/2017 7:39:39 PM PST by mware (RETIRED)
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To: mware

I think in the end, NASA should have never flown the Block I Command Module with the astronauts aboard. They should have flown the Block I CM’s on remote flights and simulated flight conditions—and it’s likely the capsule may have experienced the fire hazard problem in space. North American Aviation had planned a lot of changes for what became the Block II capsule, but the Apollo 1 fire forced North American to make much more changes, notably removing a lot of exposed fire-prone materials, changing the hatch design to open outward, and switching to a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere when the capsule was on the ground.


30 posted on 01/26/2017 7:40:14 PM PST by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: mware

We lived in Cocoa Beach then. My father worked at the Cape. I remember this very well. One of the few times I saw my father visibly shaken.


31 posted on 01/26/2017 7:40:21 PM PST by Magnatron
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To: mware

yup. that and quick release door’handles.


32 posted on 01/26/2017 7:40:54 PM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Calvin Locke

Wow...I didn’t know about that.


33 posted on 01/26/2017 7:41:07 PM PST by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: naturalman1975

The Right Stuff was a excellent movie on the early space program.


34 posted on 01/26/2017 7:42:02 PM PST by mware (RETIRED)
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To: ichabod1

I was a month shy of 7 and remember it very well.

It was my first encounter with sudden death.


35 posted on 01/26/2017 7:42:39 PM PST by lightman (Trump = The Twenty-first century's Teddy Roosevelt!)
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To: RayChuang88

Thanks for that detailed information.


36 posted on 01/26/2017 7:44:54 PM PST by mware (RETIRED)
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To: Magnatron
Yeah, my dad was the same way.

I think many of our fathers who heard about it had WW2 flashbacks after hearing how they died.

37 posted on 01/26/2017 7:47:25 PM PST by mware (RETIRED)
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To: Mears

““I remember that day and where I was. I was 7.”

I remember it well also-—I was 34.:-)”

I was 9. I was such a follower of the space program and used to write NASA frequently and get responses. I was stunned when this happened.

January 28th is the date the Challenger exploded and February 1 is the date of the Columbia disaster.


38 posted on 01/26/2017 7:53:49 PM PST by ConsCA
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To: ConsCA
January 28th is the date the Challenger exploded and February 1 is the date of the Columbia disaster

Hindsight but you would think they could have figured out the O ring problem ahead of time.

39 posted on 01/26/2017 7:58:35 PM PST by mware (RETIRED)
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To: mware

You’d be surprised at how many people I run into who think the landings were all a hoax.


40 posted on 01/26/2017 8:00:41 PM PST by Bulwyf
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