Free Republic

Actor Fred Ward has died, according to his publicist, Ron Hofmann. The star, who brought gentlemanly gruffness to films that included The Right Stuff, Tremors, Henry and June and The Player died Sunday, May 8 at the age of 79. No cause of death was given. Ward brought reservoirs of tenderness to his tough guy roles, and plenty of street credibility. A former boxer, lumberjack and short-order cook who served in the U.S. Air Force, Ward went to acting school and got his start when he moved to Rome as a young man and worked as a mime, then a...

On April 9, 1959, the newly-formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, introduced the world to a new breed of heroes: the Mercury Seven, America’s first astronauts. Se-lected from a pool of over 500 military test pilots, these men represented the best the nation had to offer, and its best hope in the intensifying Space Race against the Soviets. Almost immediately, the Mercury Seven became national heroes: on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard would became the first American in space, while on February 20, 1962, John Glenn would become the first American to orbit the earth, a feat which...

On the 45-anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire, a tribute to astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee from my favorite documentary about getting to the Moon.

Dedicated to the heroes of Apollo 1 who died on January 27, 1967. This video was made 44 years after that day on 1/27/2011.

... Young was supposed to be consuming the newly designed space food that NASA had sent up with them. To be fair, this proto-astronaut-grub was probably about as gross as a two-day-old sandwich. “Here I was, sitting over there flying and John was fooling around with the food, and all of a sudden he asked me if I wanted a corned beef sandwich,” Grissom said in an April 1965 interview with the Miami News. “I hadn’t counted on the pungent odor of corned beef in a closed cabin,” Young admitted in the same article. Grissom, who died several years later...

January 27, 1967 The Apollo I fire R.I.P.

THE FIRE "During a simulated countdown for mission AS-204 on January 27, 1967, an accident occurred in CM 012. This was a manned test with the prime astronaut crew on board. A fire occurred inside the command module resulting in the death of the three astronauts and as yet undetermined damage to the command and service modules." With these words, the nation's space program was split into two classifications: Pre-Fire and Post-Fire. 27 January 1967 The spacecraft, towering over 210 feet into the sky, sat on the launch pad at Launch Complex 34 on the Cape Canaveral Air Station. At...

In this time of VERY JUSTIFIABLE pride in Apollo 11, can we also spare a few moments to remember our Apollo Martyrs of Apollo 1. On January 27, 1969, in a test of the new Apollo Capsule, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died in a horrible fire. In the next year the Apollo Capsule was so redesigned and reworked that it can hardly be called the same machine.

<p>IT was supposed to be a routine launch pad test.</p> <p>But from the Apollo 1 command module at Pad 34 came a panicked voice saying, "Fire in the cockpit."</p>

MELBOURNE, Fla. -- Gus Grissom's 75-year-old widow and eldest son retrieved the fallen astronaut's personal effects Wednesday from the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Among the boxed items was the Stetson hat President Lyndon Johnson gave Grissom, the astronaut's logbook and the folded American flag from his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. But the artifact his widow and son wanted most -- Grissom's Mercury 7 spacesuit -- was still sealed in a glass case at the Titusville, Fla., museum when the pair headed home to Houston. Although the Grissoms had the suit for nearly 30 years before loaning it to the...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family...