I just finished watching a YouTube video ("1994 One Small Step") in which the former NASA press officer Paul Haney was interviewed. But unbeknownst to him, the scene in the white room where he was heading intensified rapidly in just a matter of seconds. To someone looking in, it would appear that both astronauts had been incinerated since their seats were empty. To save on labor costs, North American had used machines to bundle the miles of wires that snaked through the Apollo spacecraft, the arrangement of which seemed arbitrary to Young. Veteran astronaut Gus Grissom, first American spacewalker Ed White and rookie Roger Chaffee (left-to-right). Then there was the hatch itself: designed to open inward (nearly impossible to do if the cabin pressure increases), and three-layered, making it a slow, burdensome process to open, and delaying the rescue efforts. Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. To display the capsule would help present and future generations be able to see and understand the sacrifices that were made with the Apollo 1 tragedy and what was learned to prevent it from happening again. Image: NASA "What I remember is that they were really. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Press J to jump to the feed. They were never hermetically sealed like the interior spacecraft components were. Image: NASA, "What I remember is that they were really pushing people, and dad was working a lot of overtime," Ron Rogers, my uncle and Henry's youngest son, told me. His autopsy report painted a gruesome sight of what occurred to his body when the plane crashed. Hence the introduction of beta cloth into the Apollo program. Suits don't look right, helmets don't look right. 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. Especially now while we still have people who were there that could be involved in helping to create the display. 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. 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. I always thought these were photos of the burned suits. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. It's possible that the spacecraft could be reassembled only as a shell, with the heat shields installed and windows blacked out using volunteers in the area that worked on the craft or in the program. It was difficult for mission control to make out what the crew was saying inside the shuttle, and vice versa, leading Grissom to famously ponder after hours of static: "how are we going to get to the moon if we can't talk between two or three buildings?". For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Apollo 1's tragic crew Gus Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee, Interior of NASA's Apollo 1 space capsule following the fire that killed three astronauts. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. From left to right are. 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. I've heard it has been released in its entirety before, but I had never heard it all before. At 6:20 PM, the decision was made to take a 10 minute break to try to sort out the communications issues before the emergency evacuation simulation. There was a 17 second gap from when the crew reported the fire to their death, analysts concluded. As I said in my earlier post you can still see shredded white flakes of spacesuit material below the hatchway sill on the floor of the spacecraft upon the melted mattress pads. We were sitting at the end of the arrow so we got the glory, but those other people had the same attitude we didif this mission fails it wont be because of me.. Grissom, White, and Chaffee did not die in vain, Tribe said. But we didnt expect it to be on the ground.. Henry served in the Navy for 15 years, followed by a five-year stint in the Air Force, before retiring from service. Seeing Earth from Space Is the Key to Saving Our Species from Itself. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. College Park contains a good deal more than just NACA and Apollo 1 and Challenger. [Infographic: How the Apollo 1 Fire Happened]. That said, for circumstantial reasons I dont think were looking at the remains of the astronauts; these could be empty suits that were burned in an unrelated accident. Eight months and three missions later, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon. It was even discussed years/decades ago about the possibility of placing Apollo 1 inside 34's blockhouse, under the pedestal at the pad, or somewhere nearby. The Lincoln chair has not been restored. 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. Once you have access to the archives, you can request any part of the fire file you want, even the most grim of grim, photos, which I have no interest in viewing. The exhibit was done in consultation with the astronauts' families. Posts: 1624From: Bethpage, N.Y.Registered: Jul 2002, Posts: 108From: Wilmington, NC, New HanoverRegistered: Aug 2004. This is one thing, of all my years of reading and studying, I have never heard anything about. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. [Photos: TheApollo 1Fire]. The early astronauts trusted that they could handle any situation that came their way. The Soviets were big on publishing photos of pilots that gave their lives for the space program. "I'm going to hang it on that spacecraft," he answered as he kissed her goodbye. As for tastefully displaying Apollo 1, it won't happen anytime soon as the three families are in disagreement on that issue. This provides a view of cramped quarters inside the capsule. In his biography Forever Young, A Life of Adventure in Air and Space, the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle veteran John Young recounted the unfortunate differences in wiring between the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft. Spacecraft 12 was to have flown on the Apollo/Saturn 204 mission (later known as Apollo 1). The next transmission comes through as a muffled"I'm getting out" before screams can be heard. Long story that I do not want to discuss with the public. Most material from the late 80's and older is held at the archives, either in . And what was the purpose of keeping this blood? However, Grissom successfully commanded the first Gemini flight, Gemini 3, and was selected to do the same for Apollo. He was a husband, and father to three boys. As a boy, Henry would pick cotton or sell boiled peanuts at baseball games to help make ends meet. Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. NASA administrators sit at the witness table before the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Services, chaired by Senator Clinton P. Anderson, on the Apollo 1 (Apollo 204) accident. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. These records and items need to be preserved for history. "Instead he made his way through the smoke and fire and began to help any way he could. This is the Apollo 1 Suit https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Apollo_1_-_Chaffee_in_Apollo_Block_I_space_suit.jpg. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Decades later, NASA recalls the Apollo 1 incident every January in an annualDay of Remembrance. Then, in March of 1965, the first Gemini crewed mission launched, beginninga series of tests in low Earth orbit that would prove the technologies needed to go to the Moon. The temperature of the flame and gas exiting from the fracture origin exceeded 1640 K (2500 degrees F). I am assuming you're speaking of photos of the bodies, both in place and in autopsy. The limo was reconfigured by the Secret Service before it was retired. profile | register | preferences | faq | search. The mission was. The Apollo 1 crew, from left to right, Roger Chaffee, Ed White and Gus Grissom. I'm sure it was a calculated risk for them to be on Apollo 1.0 instead of Apollo 15.0 or something. The first of three sons, my dad, was born in December 1946. "Within minutes we knew they were dead, and we were in deep, serious trouble. Now that I look into it, Nasa seems to always keep any photo with human remains hidden. Now it is entirely possible since the suits melted and were glued or cemented to the CM metal that when the bodies were removed that caused additional damages to the suits. On the other hand I can understand why no serious institution would want this on their website. Other than autopsy photos; which far as I know haven't ever been released same as the ones from the burned up shuttle, there's no photos on the internet. But his time in the military gave him valuable skills in engineering and maintenance, which opened the door for him to work at the Martin Marietta Corporation, a company that built rockets and later became Lockheed Martin. The mission was to carry Grissom, White, and Chaffee into Earth's orbit, allowing them to test out the Apollo launch and flight systemsin particular the Command Service Modulemaking sure the technology used on the eventual moon landing would be up to the task. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace. Heres how it works. My speculation is that CM 014 may have simply been buried in an abandoned missile silo. Posts: 2458From: U.K.Registered: Jul 2009. Yeah now that you mention it it seems unlikely that NASA would take pics with the corpses still inside. I've been through all the Apollo 1 photos at College Park. 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. The team had spent the day conducting a standard last check of all the systems called a "plugs out" test. The agency also met Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the moon in 1969, during Apollo 11. Posts: 1966From: Atlanta, GARegistered: Feb 2007, Posts: 3160From: Belfast, United KingdomRegistered: Feb 2002, Posts: 503From: Highland Heights, KYRegistered: Feb 2003, Posts: 239From: Sacramento, CARegistered: Oct 2004. The aftermath of the grisly accident found America questioning its previously infallible space program, which since the late 1950s had chased, caught, and surpassed the Soviet Union in the race to the Moon. 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. The speed and intensity of the fire rapidly used up the oxygen supply inside the crew cabin. Opening the spacecrafts cumbersome hatch, under the best of circumstances, required a minimum of 90 seconds. For the astronauts, if they complained too loudly, there was also the threat of getting pulled off the mission. 55 TheNightBench 6 yr. ago The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Rick, you talked about the crew autopsy being done near the pad (I think they called it the bioastronautics support unit). I don't believe that it would have been scrapped at KSC because of the materials involved. I assume that since you said you didn't have a wish to view them that you had not seen these particular photos. I feel that the Apollo 1 capsule (or what is left of it) could and should be tastefully displayed. He joined the Navy in 1941 after graduating from high school, and binged on bananas in order to gain enough weight to enlist. There is still remnants of the spacesuits in the form of white powdered flakes on the spacecraft floor below the hatch. Apollo 1 Apollo 1 insignia. Edit: forgot to reread, changed a few words. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. But while doing ground tests, it proved disastrous to put astronauts into a capsule of pure, pressurized oxygen. You'll see that there is no indication of a cause of death other than be asphyxiation.However, in another part of the report it does say that the hull rupture was caused by a leaking oxygen hose and that temperatures were over 1000 degrees in that vicinity. On that mission, Mercury's Liberty Bell 7, the hatch door blew for unknown reasons upon splashdown. Does that mean the inner and outer shells were crushed like a junk automobile and sent to a smelter? Also there wasn't much left of Komarov and he was alone. We will use up to the accident and immediately after Posts: 1316From: Syracuse, NYRegistered: Jan 2005, Posts: 730From: Longview, Texas, USARegistered: Apr 2000. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. We always expected that wed lose at least one mission before we landed on the Moon, because of how far we were reaching out, he said. 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