Remembering Apollo 1
We remember that forty years ago today, three brave men perished in the horrific accident of Apollo I while doing a simple test. Those men were Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.
Because the cockpit was filled with pure oxygen, all three men were dead within 17 seconds of the first call of fire.
They should be remembered as heroes. All three men signed up to be astronauts after being test pilots, and saw the astronaut role as a service to their country. They understood the risks, and rather than back down, accepted it as part of the job.
The Fire and the resulting investigation (led by anti-NASA crusader Senator Walter Mondale) almost crippled NASA and prevented the Apollo Program from meeting the 'end of the decade' Kennedy deadline. However, it was not political pressure that probably caused the most strain on NASA, but the impact felt by the other astronauts, the engineers, and the administrators. They each felt the lives of Grissom, White, and Chaffee on their hands, and several felt personally responsible for the deaths.
I believe that astronaut Col. Frank Borman summed up the cause of the accident the best when he described it as a "failure of imagination." Failure to imagine that such an accident would occur on Earth and not hundreds of miles from a fire station. It is important to remember not for the mistakes made, but how we ultimately recovered from them.
The Apollo Program continued with Apollo 7 in October of 1968, and then Apollo 8 circling the moon in December.
They should be remembered always.
There is a wealth of Apollo 1-related information here:
"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." -Joseph F. Shea, Manager of the Apollo Space Program OfficeWith these words, the nation's space program was split into two classifications: Pre-Fire and Post-Fire.
They should be remembered as heroes. All three men signed up to be astronauts after being test pilots, and saw the astronaut role as a service to their country. They understood the risks, and rather than back down, accepted it as part of the job.
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. -Virgil I. Grissom, after the Gemini 3 mission, March 1965Grissom was one of the "Mercury 7," the original astronaut group, and had been the second American man in space. He and White each had each flown a Gemini mission, and Ed White was the first American to perform an EVA (spacewalk). Apollo I would have been Roger Chaffee's first spaceflight.
The Fire and the resulting investigation (led by anti-NASA crusader Senator Walter Mondale) almost crippled NASA and prevented the Apollo Program from meeting the 'end of the decade' Kennedy deadline. However, it was not political pressure that probably caused the most strain on NASA, but the impact felt by the other astronauts, the engineers, and the administrators. They each felt the lives of Grissom, White, and Chaffee on their hands, and several felt personally responsible for the deaths.
I believe that astronaut Col. Frank Borman summed up the cause of the accident the best when he described it as a "failure of imagination." Failure to imagine that such an accident would occur on Earth and not hundreds of miles from a fire station. It is important to remember not for the mistakes made, but how we ultimately recovered from them.
The Apollo Program continued with Apollo 7 in October of 1968, and then Apollo 8 circling the moon in December.
They should be remembered always.
There is a wealth of Apollo 1-related information here:
- Original New York Times article
- Original Senate Report
- Air & Space Museum
- NASA
- Apollo 1 Foundation (Dedicated to a living memorial)
- I would also recommend the Apollo 1 episode of the excellent Tom Hanks/HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon
Labels: Anniversaries, Space
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