It’s been forty years since the Apollo 1 launch pad fire, which delayed and nearly derailed the US manned space flight effort. It was just prior to my real awareness of Stuff Going On … I remember hearing about the fire, but not really understanding the impact of it (I was a half year younger than Katherine is now, which provides me some perspective on what she’ll remember of her present childhood days).
On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program;
and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident.
Immediately prior to the accident, the crew members were reclining in their horizontal couches, running through a checklist of things they would do in space while a communication system problem was being fixed. At 6:31 (23:31 GMT) a voice (now believed to be Chaffee’s, as his was the only clear channel) was heard over the COM link, “We’ve got fire in the cockpit.” A few seconds later, the transmissions ended with a cry of pain. On the television
monitors, Ed White was seen attempting to open the hatch. However, the two-piece hatch was of a design which required that the crew undo several bolts in order to remove the inner section, and was impossible to open quickly. Furthermore, the inner portion of the hatch opened inwards, an intentional design feature intended to exploit the cabin’s air pressure in order to further tighten the hatch seal during spaceflight. The hot gases produced by the fire held the hatch shut, and within a few seconds the air pressure
had risen enough to prevent the crew from escaping (and, in fact, the air pressure rose so high as to rupture the capsule).The fire spread quickly and within seconds was out of control. As a result of toxic smoke and malfunctioning gas masks, ground crew needed five minutes to open the hatch and suppress the flames. The fire had melted the astronauts’ space suits and the air lines which connected them to the capsule’s life support systems. Grissom’s and White’s suits were found to have fused together. It was evident from how the bodies lay that they had tried to get out, but they never had a chance. Ed White, who was supposed to
open the hatch, was partway out of his harness and had apparently made an effort to escape. The procedure would have had Grissom lower White’s headrest, and White proceed to unlatch over 12 bolts to release the hatch. Indeed, even if he were to accomplish that, the internal pressure had risen so high that the inward-opening hatch could not have been opened. Chaffee’s job was to begin shutting down the spacecraft and maintain communications with ground control. He was found dead still strapped into his right hand
seat. Only 17 seconds from the first call of “Fire!”, all three were dead.
Ad astra per aspera.
(via Fred)