Apollo 1 - sad anniversary today

[RT Atlanta]

Today, 43 years ago, the Apollo 1 fire occured at Cape Kennedy.

Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died of smoke inhalation in their Apollo command module as fire broke out in their pure oxygen crew compartment and the crew was unable to open the hatch to escape.



I thank them for their sacrifice.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Oh, man. I remember the photographs in LIFE. Handprints on the walls....nt

[no_hypocrisy]

2. My entire fourth grade class was crushed by this tragedy. Just couldn't get over it.

[NoNothing]

3. Doubly tragic

Because I just heard today that we are scrapping the Constellation program. Meaning, no manned spaceflight for us for the foreseeable future. We have squandered their legacy.

[RT Atlanta]

4. Are you serious?!?

I heard the gov't was going to push the private development (e.g. SpaceX Dragon), but... what the fuck!?!

[PinkoDonkey]

10. Tragic indeed.

Did you hear something through the grapevine or do you have a link?

[bananas]

12. Here's a link

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2010/01/going-in-circle.html

[hlthe2b]

5. I was pretty young when this occurred... why were they unable...

to open the hatch? (can someone tell me in a nutshell, what went wrong?)

[east texas lib]

6. An electrical fire in a pressurized, oxygenated atmosphere...

The inwardly opening hatch could not operate due to the pressurized cabin. There was no escape.

[dashrif]

7. they

where using almost pure O2 and a spark set it ablaze the hatch opened inward and when the capsule was pressurized prior to the fire they could not get it open

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

8. As I recall . . .

. . . the hatch for the Apollo 1 spacecraft was "inward opening." As a consequence, once the fire broke out, the pressure inside the capsule built up so quickly that, strong as Ed White was (he being the astronaut best placed to opened the hatch), there was no possible way to get the hatch open.

As for the cause of the fire, the subsequent investigation revealed that the insulation on wiring that was located behind a panel had become abraded due to that wiring being poorly positioned, such that the panel door rubbed against it when it was opened and closed. Further, the "plugs out" test that was being conducted on January 27, 1967, in which the spacecraft was functioning under its own, internal power, was done with the cabin pressurized with 100% pure oxygen. When the worn wiring resulted in a spark, a fire broke out that, in that oxygen-rich environment, quickly spread to, and ignited, the velcro and plastic netting that was located throughout the cabin.

The whole thing was over in a matter of just a few seconds, actually.

[hlthe2b]

9. wow... thank you... They truly never had a chance.

[RT Atlanta]

13. Really was over quick

I researched this fire and the program's recovery through the Apollo 7 launch when in college (focus of my senior paper for my history major) and the reports of the astronauts' bodies were that their suits were only burned through in a few small places, and the harm to them was first/second degree burns in small areas - all of which were otherwise survivable - they truly suffocated quickly from the smoke.

The pressure inside the command module was so immense that it cracked the frame, splitting it open - leading to a few tense moments for the guys in white room trying to extricate the astronauts (some fear the escape tower could be ignited accidentally from the escaping fire before being doused).

Look no further than the color photo above to get a sense of how quick the fire must have happened.

[DavidDvorkin]

11. I started working at NASA eight months later

in September, 1967. The mood was still dark and the investigation was still under way.