Okla-homey
1/27/2007, 08:12 AM
Jan 27, 1967: Apollo astronauts die in launch pad fire
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10108/2000661479619061496_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000661479619061496)
Forty years ago today, a launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Florida, killed astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chafee.
During the preflight test on this day in 1967, numerous problems developed with oxygen and communications, and the test dragged on and on. Various communications methods went awry. Then five and a half hours after they had entered the command module, Chaffee said, "Fire, I smell fire." Two seconds later, White shouted, "Fire in the cockpit." A few seconds later, they were dead from smoke inhalation. The astronauts were subsequently consumed by the fire.
An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire. This was particularly dangerous given the module was supplied with pure oxygen. Things that are moderately flammable in normal air become dangerously flammable in a pure oxygen environment. After this mishap, procedures were changed and the command module recieved outside air until it reached an altitude in which pure oxygen was necessary.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/9248/2000614602147481315_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000614602147481315)
The Apollo program was initiated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) following President John F. Kennedy's 1961 declaration of the goal of landing men on the moon and bringing them safely back to Earth by the end of the decade.
The so-called "moon shot" was the largest scientific and technological undertaking in history. In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to travel to the moon, and on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. walked on the lunar surface. In all, there were 17 Apollo missions and six lunar landings.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10108/2000690013438375804_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000690013438375804)
A fully fueled Saturn V moonshot is still the heaviest object ever made to fly.
As an aside, you have more computing power in your cellphone than existed in the Apollo spacecraft which brought men to the Moon and safely home.
http://img95.echo.cx/img95/7549/106924mainimagefeature255ajh46.jpg
RIP Men of Apollo 1: Grissom, White and Chaffee
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10108/2000661479619061496_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000661479619061496)
Forty years ago today, a launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Florida, killed astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chafee.
During the preflight test on this day in 1967, numerous problems developed with oxygen and communications, and the test dragged on and on. Various communications methods went awry. Then five and a half hours after they had entered the command module, Chaffee said, "Fire, I smell fire." Two seconds later, White shouted, "Fire in the cockpit." A few seconds later, they were dead from smoke inhalation. The astronauts were subsequently consumed by the fire.
An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire. This was particularly dangerous given the module was supplied with pure oxygen. Things that are moderately flammable in normal air become dangerously flammable in a pure oxygen environment. After this mishap, procedures were changed and the command module recieved outside air until it reached an altitude in which pure oxygen was necessary.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/9248/2000614602147481315_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000614602147481315)
The Apollo program was initiated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) following President John F. Kennedy's 1961 declaration of the goal of landing men on the moon and bringing them safely back to Earth by the end of the decade.
The so-called "moon shot" was the largest scientific and technological undertaking in history. In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to travel to the moon, and on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. walked on the lunar surface. In all, there were 17 Apollo missions and six lunar landings.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10108/2000690013438375804_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000690013438375804)
A fully fueled Saturn V moonshot is still the heaviest object ever made to fly.
As an aside, you have more computing power in your cellphone than existed in the Apollo spacecraft which brought men to the Moon and safely home.
http://img95.echo.cx/img95/7549/106924mainimagefeature255ajh46.jpg
RIP Men of Apollo 1: Grissom, White and Chaffee