On January 27th, 1967, the U.S suffered its first deaths in the manned space program. The Apollo 1 capsule was undergoing testing on the pad with astronauts White, Chaffee, and Grissom on board. The test were being done in a 100% oxygen atmosphere.Somewhere, something sparked. Could have been a small short circuit. Could have even been static electricity. In a pure oxygen environment, fire spreads quickly. Velcro was everywhere in the capsule. Turns out Velcro is explosive in a pure oxygen setting.
The fire spread quickly and the astronauts could not escape. The hatch opened inward and the high pressure environment made it impossible to open the hatch.
Fortunately, their deaths were not in vain, but led to one of the most extensive safety reviews in history. We all know the future successes that came from this tragedy. The redesign is credited with helping Apollo 13 make it back to Earth safely as the electronics did not short out when they were restarted in spite of a lot of condensation.
NASA has a remembrance this week for all the astronauts they have lost (curiously enough, the three major accidents all happened in late January/early February). Even though I was not yet born, Apollo 1 resonates with me. When I watch shows on the space program, I always have the impending sense of dread as the Apollo I section draws near. Recovering from this tragedy makes the Apollo 11 triumph all the more powerful.
Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
I was too young to remember or know about that one, but I do remember the others
ReplyDeleteI was 15 at the time. I remember many things from the 60's distinctly: assassinations, moon landing, etc., but for some reason I "remember" this one more from what I've read and heard about it as an adult. Too bad it so often takes a tragedy to get things straightened out.
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