Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Fifty years ago today: the Apollo 1 Fire
Last edited Fri Jan 27, 2017, 02:04 PM - Edit history (1)
Tomorrow is the 31st anniversary of the Challenger disaster.
‘We have a fire in the cockpit!’ The Apollo 1 disaster 50 years later.
By Sarah Larimer
@slarimer
January 26 at 5:49 PM
Sheryl Chaffee remembers the January evening when astronaut Mike Collins came to the door and asked to speak with her mother. ... The two talked in a bedroom of the Chaffee home. Then Collins emerged and Chaffee and her brother were sent in to speak with their mother.
“So we went back there, and she told us that our dad was never coming home again,” said Chaffee, who was 8 years old. “Of course, I really didn't understand that. I think I even asked her, 'what, are you getting divorced?'” ... Sheryl Chaffee's mother, Martha, explained that there had been a fire and her father, Roger, was dead. ... “And then she gave me a necklace with two hearts, that he had planned on taking up to space with him,” she said.
It has been 50 years since the Apollo 1 fire killed Roger Chaffee at Cape Kennedy’s Launch Complex 34 in Florida. Chaffee, along with astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Ed White II, died on Jan. 27, 1967, when a blaze erupted in their command module during preflight testing.
....
The graves of Chaffee and Grissom can be found at Arlington National Cemetery. Ed White is buried at West Point. This week, their families gathered in Florida for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation's annual day of remembrance, which honored Apollo 1, as well as Challenger and Columbia crews.
By Sarah Larimer
@slarimer
January 26 at 5:49 PM
Sheryl Chaffee remembers the January evening when astronaut Mike Collins came to the door and asked to speak with her mother. ... The two talked in a bedroom of the Chaffee home. Then Collins emerged and Chaffee and her brother were sent in to speak with their mother.
“So we went back there, and she told us that our dad was never coming home again,” said Chaffee, who was 8 years old. “Of course, I really didn't understand that. I think I even asked her, 'what, are you getting divorced?'” ... Sheryl Chaffee's mother, Martha, explained that there had been a fire and her father, Roger, was dead. ... “And then she gave me a necklace with two hearts, that he had planned on taking up to space with him,” she said.
It has been 50 years since the Apollo 1 fire killed Roger Chaffee at Cape Kennedy’s Launch Complex 34 in Florida. Chaffee, along with astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Ed White II, died on Jan. 27, 1967, when a blaze erupted in their command module during preflight testing.
....
The graves of Chaffee and Grissom can be found at Arlington National Cemetery. Ed White is buried at West Point. This week, their families gathered in Florida for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation's annual day of remembrance, which honored Apollo 1, as well as Challenger and Columbia crews.
Apollo 1
Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was the first manned mission of the United States Apollo program, which had as its ultimate goal a manned lunar landing. The low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24, 1967.
....
Major causes of accident
The review board identified several major factors which combined to cause the fire and the astronauts' deaths:
* An ignition source most probably related to "vulnerable wiring carrying spacecraft power" and "vulnerable plumbing carrying a combustible and corrosive coolant"
* A pure oxygen atmosphere at higher than atmospheric pressure
* A cabin sealed with a hatch cover which could not be quickly removed at high pressure
* An extensive distribution of combustible materials in the cabin
* Inadequate emergency preparedness (rescue or medical assistance, and crew escape)
Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was the first manned mission of the United States Apollo program, which had as its ultimate goal a manned lunar landing. The low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24, 1967.
....
Major causes of accident
The review board identified several major factors which combined to cause the fire and the astronauts' deaths:
* An ignition source most probably related to "vulnerable wiring carrying spacecraft power" and "vulnerable plumbing carrying a combustible and corrosive coolant"
* A pure oxygen atmosphere at higher than atmospheric pressure
* A cabin sealed with a hatch cover which could not be quickly removed at high pressure
* An extensive distribution of combustible materials in the cabin
* Inadequate emergency preparedness (rescue or medical assistance, and crew escape)
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
