Obviousman
27-January-2007, 08:54 PM
Forty years ago at 10.31am (Australian Eastern Summer Time) today (which was actually 6.31pm 27 JAN at Cape Kennedy), a fire broke out in the Command Module of Apollo 1. The capsule was undergoing a ground 'dress rehearsal' with the astronauts strapped inside.
Within 90 seconds of the discovery of the fire, the astronauts were dead from asphyxiation.
The investigation into this tragic incident lead to many changes to the Apollo spacecraft and to procedures used by NASA. It has been said that without that fire on Pad 34, the US may never have achieved the goal of putting a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.
Apollo 1 crew:
Virgil I. 'Gus' Grissom
Edward H. White II
Roger B. Chaffee
Lest we forget
Within 90 seconds of the discovery of the fire, the astronauts were dead from asphyxiation.
The investigation into this tragic incident lead to many changes to the Apollo spacecraft and to procedures used by NASA. It has been said that without that fire on Pad 34, the US may never have achieved the goal of putting a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.
Apollo 1 crew:
Virgil I. 'Gus' Grissom
Edward H. White II
Roger B. Chaffee
Lest we forget