It was just a test. Nobody expected anything extraordinary to happen on January 27, 1967. The Apollo 1 crew--Commander Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee--were strapped into their seats high aboard their Saturn rocket. They were in a regular, routine test of the spacecraft, and nobody expected anything abnormal to happen....
Gus Grissom was qualified without a doubt to lead the first Apollo mission. He was a Mercury astronaut, the second American into space, and the commander of the first Gemini mission. Ed White was also very qualified. He was part of the second astronaut group, nicknamed, "The New Nine". He had been the pilot aboard Gemini 4, and thus the first American ever to "walk" in space. Roger Chaffee had never flown into space before--he had been chosen as part of astronaut group three in 1963. He must have been regarded highly--NASA had put him on the first Apollo flight, and his crewmates called him "a really great boy".
In their haste to put man on the moon before the end of the decade, North American (the builder of the Apollo CM, or Command Module) had taken unnecessary risks. There was a multitude of problems wrong with the Apollo 1 CM, but NASA, also with "go fever", accepted it. Gus Grissom was disgusted with his CM--but he told fellow astronaut John Young that if he complained any more to NASA, he would lose his job. Once when practicing in a simulator, Grissom hung a lemon on it to show his dissatisfaction.
Since the days of Mercury, and Gemini as well, an 100% oxygen mix in the cockpit had been used. And now the Apollo 1 cockpit was pressured at something like 16 pounds per square inch (psi)--it should have been much, much, less.
...Suddenly, the improbable become probable. A spark started from the uncovered wires, right below Grissom. Soon it spread into a fire. The entire crew radioed helplessly, "We've got a fire in the cockpit! Get us out!" Chaffee, like trained, stayed still and maintained communication with the ground. Grissom and White tried to open the hatch, but alas, it was too hard for them. Only the strongest of men, under ideal of circumstances, could open the hatch. And then it took a long time. Ed White was very athletic, and so if anyone could've opened it, he could have.
Soon the cries ceased. Grissom, White, and Chaffee were dead. A detailed, serious investigation board ensued to find the cause. Afterwards, many changes were made in NASA and its contractors who built Apollo.
This happened forty-four years ago today. As I look at their crew portrait, they seem so happy, and kind. While an extremely sad event, no doubt, this accident did help point out to NASA the problems they had. And if it hadn't been for Apollo 1--who knows? We may have lost more crews than we did. Today, let us remember and honor those who went before us, and though hard, paved the way to the Moon.
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