The crew struggled to get out. Grissom was America's second person in space in 1961. Meanwhile, Don Babbitt, the pad leader for North American Aviationthe company that made the Apollo spacecraftmoved to pick up the phone and call for help. When we removed the inner hatch, it would only go so far as it was lodged against Ed's body. A new respect developed between the astronauts and the contractors concerning design changes, which were implemented more effectively. Any chance of finding its origin? The Apollo 1 crew commander,Virgil "Gus" Grissom, was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War. He was chosen was among NASA's first group of seven astronauts, the Mercury Seven. Technicians raced to the scene, trying to fight the fire with extinguishers amid faulty breathing masks. The Smithsonian - and for that matter certain divisions within NASA - have tried to have the capsule moved and/or restored (to its post-fire but pre-deconstruction condition) over the years but have run into various objections (including by one of the Apollo 1 families). Posts: 802From: Columbus, OH USARegistered: Jun 2002. There has been renewed interest since the loss of Columbia by several parties to exhibit part or whole of the command module but as with most things in life the most limiting factor has been the lack of funds. That having been said, I also (once) had something brought to me by mistake that was restricted. The five men engaged the only two fire extinguishers on that level to douse the flames closest to the hatch. In 1944, they were married and two years later, at the tender age of 23, Henry became a fatherthough he was away on duty at the time. Image: NASA "What I remember is that they were really. The USS Arizona is on display, so why not the complete Apollo 1 spacecraft? It's believed that the pure oxygen atmosphere meant a tiny spark triggered the fire, and the astronauts became trapped when the valves to depressurise the craft were broken amid the chaos. By the way, Stephen Clemmons if you are reading this please explain what "scrapped" means in regard to CM 014, the spacecraft dismantled during the Apollo 1 fire investigation. Interesting note the viles of blood that were removed from the crew members were placed in plastic bags and are okay. Image: NASA. "I have a personal feeling that, without their loss in 1967, we might not have gotten to the moon, literally, because what we learned from that accident made a safer program," he told me. I'm sure that it joined other hulks of previous craft used in previous testing and was scrapped there. The exhibit was done in consultation with the astronauts' families. I don't know how much was left of the suits after the fire, but probably not much. But for those like Henry Rogers who experienced the tragedy firsthand, the trauma of January 27, 1967 left scars, and a deep sense of regret that's difficult to capture all these years later. Rogers and five other men including Clemmons, put their lives at risk to try to rescue Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, the three astronauts trapped inside the burning spacecraft. The agency also met Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the moon in 1969, during Apollo 11. All three astronauts had died. As he surveyed the capsule that Grissom, White, and Chaffee were to fly in, Young saw a seemingly endless amount of short circuits. The individuals are (L to R) Dr. Robert C. Seamans, NASA Deputy Administrator; James E. Webb, NASA Administrator; Dr. George E. Mueller, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, and Maj. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, Apollo Program Director. Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions before receiving . Amazingly, this was NASAs third new spacecraft in just five years. Immediately after the Apollo 1 fire, to avoid appearance of a conflict of interest, NASA Administrator James E. Webb asked President Lyndon B. Johnson to allow NASA to handle the investigation according to its established procedure, promising to be truthful in assessing blame, and to keep the appropriate leaders of Congress informed. While it has been last year since I last perused the Apollo 1 material, and it is possible that additional photos are now available, in the past the crew photos have been very well protected from release. His suit is also the most damaged. But while doing ground tests, it proved disastrous to put astronauts into a capsule of pure, pressurized oxygen. The board listed adamning set of circumstances, failures and recommendationsfor future spacecraft designers to consider. Further,anexhibit honoring the Apollo 1 crew was opened at the Kennedy Space Center in 2017,displaying the hatchesthat were on the spacecraft. It was 6:31 p.m. on Jan. 27, 1967, when a fire started in Apollo 1 killing . But we didnt expect it to be on the ground.. Also, the center and left-hand suits, while obviously fire-damaged, are in better condition than I would expect the Apollo suits to be in given the descriptions provided of what happened to the astronauts. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. If the fire hadn't happened when it did, where it did, these dangerous design flaws may have gone unnoticed until it was too late, and we may have sent astronauts into orbitor worse, to the moondoomed to their deaths. "I'm going to hang it on that spacecraft," he answered as he kissed her goodbye. Rick, you talked about the crew autopsy being done near the pad (I think they called it the bioastronautics support unit). When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Happier days: in June 1966, the Apollo 1 crew practices water egress procedures with a full scale boilerplate model of the spacecraft. Veteran astronaut Gus Grissom, first American spacewalker Ed White and rookie Roger Chaffee (left-to-right). My grandpa was one of them. For the time being I consider it's fake, but if it is then I'd like to find who created it and for what purpose. Many of these items were then used as spare parts on Spacecraft 017 and 020 (unmanned), or shipped back to Downy since there was nothing wrong with them and would not be needed in the future. "That was followed, shortly thereafter, by Chaffee saying 'we've got a fire in the cockpit.'". These lessons may not have been learned without such a tragedy, and they helped American astronauts win the race to the moon in 1969 with Apollo 11. Having been inside Apollo 1 I observed a number of interesting things. Read our affiliate link policy. FILE - In this Feb. 17, 1967 file photo, the Apollo 1 capsule, with black smudge marks visible on the heat shield, is lowered from its Saturn 1 booster at Cape Kennedy, Fla. Practicing water egress procedures in a swimming pool at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, Texas. A rare image of the Apollo crew on January 27, 1967. Apollo 1's Command Module, a day after the fire. Pictured are the three. From left to right are astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee. We're burning up!'" The Mercury and Gemini onboard original film is at College Park. I find it unlikely that their bodies were not removed before these photos were taken, but its possible their faces could have imprinted on the glass somehowresting on the glass while ash accumulated around it, or something of that naturein a way that would have left an impression even after the remains were removed. In some cases, it looks like it is a photograph taken of a photograph, like here . Posts: 342From: Houston, Texas, USARegistered: Jun 2004. The white room attached to a swing arm that connected it to the spacecraft. Years later they were retrieved, but the photos were heavily damaged. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. They are now in the archives, but they were originally stored in the sealed storage facility, as were all of the photos and findings. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) The Apollo program changed forever on Jan. 27, 1967, when a flash fire swept. However, because a pure oxygen atmosphere had worked without incident for the Mercury and Gemini capsules, NASA decided it would be safe to press ahead with the same for the larger Apollo capsule. He joined the Navy in 1941 after graduating from high school, and binged on bananas in order to gain enough weight to enlist. The team had spent the day conducting a standard last check of all the systems called a "plugs out" test. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller? Any thoughts? The risk, of course, is that pure oxygen under high pressure requires but a spark to ignite and rapidly burn. I will be back there in the fall, and I'm going to request the file myself just to see if they are actually in there or whether they are still restricted, as I really hope they are. Further, the hatch door intended to keep the astronauts and the atmosphere securely inside the spacecraft turned out to be too tough to open under the unfortunate circumstances. Yet even amid this hectic schedule, engineers with the agency confidently conducted final design reviews on the Apollo capsule. I don't believe that it would have been scrapped at KSC because of the materials involved. Reply . "The hatch was loose but they couldn't get it out," Henry said in his testimony as part of the year-long investigation into the fire. During 1966, NASA flew five Gemini missions. NY 10036. Complete photographic coverage is being maintained, color film being preferred since it permits more ready identification of components and their condition. Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a. Oh well, this debate will probably be going on always hopefully someday there can be a better, respectful, and permanent "home" for America's first three-man spacecraft. I think that when Cernan described what they found, it was to counteract a news release issued shortly after the fire from an unidentifiable source by a newspaper that said the astronauts had been completely burned up. And then there was dead silence on the pad. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Apollo_1_-_Chaffee_in_Apollo_Block_I_space_suit.jpg. Does that mean the inner and outer shells were crushed like a junk automobile and sent to a smelter? Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Press J to jump to the feed. "Nobody really said anything for 15 minutes, until they got the hatch open. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, The initial version of the spacecraft contained more than 600 switches, indicators, and computers, all of which had to be connected and powered by an extensive amount of wiring. Apollo 1 was supposed to be the first manned mission to the moon, but it would take fivemore tries before Neil Armstrong made his lunar leap. It's a scenario none who were involved with the Apollo missions likes to envision, but one that surely would have been the end of the program outright. New York, That doesn't tell us where these pics came from tho. He fought at Pearl Harbor, and in the Battle of Midway. And then it was all over.". No one seems to know where the main hull of 014 went to, but it is possible that it was also shipped back to Downy, California, since it still belonged to NAA and had not been accepted by NASA. His wife, Betty, asked what he was going to do with it. He marched forward stoically, the way so many from that generation seemed to do, and continued to work on the Apollo program until its conclusion, in 1975. Now that I look into it, Nasa seems to always keep any photo with human remains hidden. "How the hell could we have put three guys into those conditions?". On a gray January afternoon in Houston, Walt Cunningham leaned into his Eames Lounge Chair and clasped his hands behind his head, the better to try and bend his thoughts back across five decades. According to the 200-page report, Grissom, Chaffee, and White had died of cardiac arrest from inhaling too much carbon monoxide and falling asleep. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee were killed when a fire erupted in their capsule during testing on the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967 . As for someday displaying Apollo 1 I really don't think it should be restored. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science since 2015. In the 51 years since, NASA has flown just one other crewed spacecraft: the Space Shuttle. "I heard them scream get me out of here. Posts: 3811From: Midwest, USARegistered: Jul 2005. . Thecrew entered the pod at1pm on February 21 1967. They grew up poor; Henry once had to wear his sister's old shoes because the family couldn't afford new ones for him. However, there are extensive photo holdings at NARA Atlanta (From MSFC and KSC). To reach it, you had to take an elevator up 200 feet to level A8, where an open air platform connected the control tower to the white room. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and (soon) a Bachelor of History from Athabasca University. The CM cabin structure was penetrated in the aft bulkhead beneath the environmental control unit and the aft sidewall. Grissom and his crew were gambling that the growing list of problems with the spacecraft would somehow be fixed in time for the February launch.. When it was all over, spacecraft 014 was just a pile of parts, with the main shell intact. The individuals are (L to R) Dr. Robert C. Seamans, NASA Deputy Administrator; James E. Webb, NASA Administrator; Dr. George E. Mueller, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, and Maj. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, Apollo Program Director. By the winter of 1967, President John F. Kennedy 's goal of " landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth" by the end of the decade appeared to . Faulty breathing masks and rookie Roger Chaffee ( left-to-right ) I really do n't believe that would! It would only go so far as it was 6:31 p.m. on Jan. 27, 1967, when a in. Amid faulty breathing masks anything for 15 minutes, until they got the hatch Apollo program changed forever Jan.. And start taking part in conversations crew commander, Virgil `` Gus '' Grissom, American. Keyboard shortcuts, https: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Apollo_1_-_Chaffee_in_Apollo_Block_I_space_suit.jpg were really seems to always keep any photo with human remains hidden to... Rare image of the suits after the fire, but probably not apollo 1 autopsy photos now that I look it... 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