Hundreds honor 3 astronauts lost in Apollo fire 50 years ago

AP, via Fox News ^

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

They were murdered.

Gus had held a press conference the day before to call the Apollo vehicle a lemon.

[ralph rotten]

I WAS WORKING ON A 130 aircraft FOR NASA AFTER THE FIRE AND THE man RUN THE SHOW WAS THE MAN THAT Was in charge of the equipment caught fire
The worker told me what cause the fire

The unit insides was over with layer of gold and the man wanted to keep the unit clean-—SO HE COVER THE WHOLE INSIDE WITH FOAM LIKE MATERNAL AND ADDED O2

[ralph rotten]

I WAS WORKING ON A 130 aircraft FOR NASA AFTER THE FIRE AND THE man RUN THE SHOW WAS THE MAN THAT Was in charge of the equipment caught fire
The worker told me what cause the fire

The unit insides was over with layer of gold and the man wanted to keep the unit clean-—SO HE COVER THE WHOLE INSIDE WITH FOAM LIKE MATERNAL AND ADDED O2

[Jimmy Valentine]

They were also in an almost pure Oxygen environment. That and the door doomed them.

[BuffaloJack]

This was a bad day. Gus Grissom was a personal friend to my family.

[jaydubya2]

I still get upset when I think about how Gus was portrayed in “The Right Stuff”. He was a great man.

[Night Hides Not]

Yeah, it is even more stupid to blame the hatch. They were in 100% pure oxygen and one little spark sealed their fate.

Well said. Imagine all those smart people who never thought to do a "what if?" analysis on what could go wrong in a pure oxygen environment?

The US space program of the 1960s was an amazing effort. Most of the computing power for NASA missions came from slide rules.

[jaydubya2]

SEATTLE, Sept. 28, 2012–A new exhibit honoring NASA astronaut Donald “Deke” Slayton (1924-1993) The centerpiece of the exhibit is Slayton’s diamond astronaut spaceflight lapel pin. Slayton was grounded from spaceflight for medical reasons just before he was to become the second American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Because of this, he was not issued a NASA spaceflight pin (akin to wings for pilots). Then in 1967, the crew of Apollo 1 had a unique spaceflight pin made for Slayton as a show of respect. The astronauts planned to give it to him after they had flown it in space, but they perished in a tragic fire on the launch pad during a pre-flight training session. The astronauts’ widows gave Slayton the pin, and he wore it in their honor for the rest of his career – except for a few weeks when it went to the Moon with Apollo 11 at the request of Neil Armstrong. The pin is legendary in the history of the NASA manned space program.

[Karl Spooner]

I believe it dripped out that they had the technology to make a safe environment, but it was cheaper to go with pure oxygen. Not sure if the engineers ever agreed with that. Bean counters at work.

[Night Hides Not]

Thanks for posting, jay. I never knew that.

I need to pull out my old copy of "The Right Stuff." Such an awesome retelling of the stories surrounding these heroes.

[jaydubya2]

I didn't read the book but the movie version depicts Grissom as a buffoon during the hatch blowing incident.

[Night Hides Not]

The book is 50 times better than the movie. Gus never wanted the spotlight like Glenn, he just wanted to be a pilot, and get the job done.

[SHRiley]

I was 9 years old when this happened and watch the coverage on CBS, the only channel we could get at the time.

How wonderful it was to grow up in the era of Apollo for a 9yo.

[Deplorable American1776]

What can I say, they are heroes...