The Horrible Apollo 1 Disaster

Oh, those phrases may not mean much to you, but there is no way NASA or the United States will forget what happened on January 27, 1967. We interrupt our normal programming to bring you this special report from NBC News. Here's Bill Ryan, good evening. Astronauts Virgil Grissom Edward White and Roger Chaffee died in a flash fire during a rehearsal for the countdown and launch of the Apollo flight that they were to carry out on the 21st of next month. Hello and welcome to the Insanity collection. Today we will be looking at the Apollo 1

disaster

, one of the most

horrible

tragedies in the history of the United States.

The word Apollo is used to designate all the missions of the Apollo program, which was the third manned space flight program carried out by the National Administration of aeronautics and space or NASA the mission of the Apollo program was to take humans to the Moon. The program began with Apollo 1, which was originally designated as-204. 204 was to be the first crewed test flight of the

apollo

command and service module or csm to earth orbit launched on a saturn ib. rocket the team's task was to test launch operations, ground monitoring and control facilities, and the performance of the Apollo Saturn launch assembly and would have lasted up to two weeks depending on how the spacecraft performed.

The csm of the spacecraft is csm012 and was manufactured by north american aviation or naa, the spacecraft contained a version of block 1 that was designed before the lunar orbit rendezvous landing strategy was decided, flight crew operations director deke slayton, selected the first crew to fly the spacecraft in january 1966, the team included don f iselle as pilot virginia grissom as command pilot and edward h white ii as senior pilot later don fiselle injured his shoulder and had He had to undergo surgery. NASA then had to replace Don with Roger B. Chaffee. The organization was also trying to make the first Apollo mission a joint space encounter with the final mission of the Gemini project.

Gemini 12 in November 1966. Due to some delays. became impossible and the Apollo mission was rescheduled for February 21, 1967. On January 27, 1967 the team decided to carry out a disconnection test that would be used to determine if the spacecraft would operate nominally on simulated internal power while disconnected. Of all the umbilicals and cables, the launch simulation occurred on pad 34. This test was crucial for the launch date which had again been scheduled for February 21. The launch vehicle and spacecraft were not loaded with fuel. nor cryogenic and all pyrotechnic systems were deactivated, so this test was declared safe at 1:00 p.m., command pilot virgin i grissom entered the command module followed by pilot roger b chaffee and finally, by senior pilot edward h white, were fully pressure-equipped and strapped to their seats, the crew connected to the spacecraft's oxygen and communication systems immediately after they were in the command module, pilot grissom noticed a strange smell in the air that circulated through his suit. and compared the odor to that of sour buttermilk, this delayed the simulated countdown as air samples were taken and at the end of the check the cause of the odor could not be determined, the control room resumed the countdown at 2:42 pm to 2:45 pm installation of the hatch began the hatch consisted of a removable inner hatch that was inside the cabin a hinged outer hatch that was part of the spacecraft's heat shield and was an outer hatch which was part of the boost protective shroud that covered the command module the boost hatch cover was partially closed so that cables could pass underneath it to provide simulated internal power to the spacecraft moments later, the measurement unit The spacecraft's inertial sensor and the astronaut's biomedical sensors detected movement.

Some grissoms got stuck in the open mic and some increases in level. The spacesuit's oxygen flowed when communication problems persisted between the team, the operations and control building and the control room of the 34-block complex. Grissom commented how we will get to the moon if we can't talk between two or three buildings right now due to the communication problem being solved the simulation was suspended again at 6:20 p.m. m. The simulated internal energy transfer was completed at 6:21 p.m. m. a surge was observed on the AC bus 2 voltage readings possibly showing a short circuit connection no one knew what was happening in the cabin, a few seconds later it is believed someone shouted flames and two seconds after that voice, Edward White He said, "We have a fire in the cabin." According to a NASA report, it was claimed that the first astronaut to shout the word flame was Roger B Chaffee, however, some listeners and analysts claimed that the voice belonged to command pilot Grissom.

Within seconds, the fire had spread throughout the cabin, then another phrase followed, but most listeners could not decipher the words, phrases believed to have been spoken by the astronauts. They are on the line of we have a serious fire, let's get out, we are burning, they are fighting a serious fire, let's get out, open it or I'm reporting a serious fire, I'm leaving, one thing was clear however the occupants of the cabin were suffering a serious infernal attack and the voice transmission ended with a scream of unbearable pain some of the officers who were in the blockhouse said that edward h white was seen on the television monitors where he was reaching for the Release the interior hatch handle when the flames engulfed the cabin from the left side to the right due to exposure to oxygen, the fire became more intense and caused the pressure to increase to approximately 29 psi.

This pressure resulted in the internal command module rupturing. Flames and gases were observed on the walls outside the command module as they exited through open access panels on two levels of the platform's service structure. Intense heat, thick smoke and ineffective gas masks designed for toxic vapors slowed the rescue team on the ground. At the time there was imminent fear that the command module would soon explode or perhaps had already exploded, the rescue team was also working on the possibility that the fire could ignite the solid rocket rocket in the launch escape tower. about the command module and if that happened it would kill all nearby ground personnel and could even destroy the platform.

The second phase of the inferno began when pressure was released as the cabin ruptured and the rush of air increased the spread of the flame through it. The fire went to the third phase. when most of the oxygen was consumed and replaced with atmospheric air, this extinguished the fire, however, something else happened: there was an increase in concentrations of carbon monoxide, which is dangerous when it enters the body's system. Carbon monoxide combines with hemoglobin and inhibits oxygen production, dense smoke filled the cabin and a large amount of soot settled on the surfaces as they cooled. It took about five minutes for platform workers to open the three layers of hatches and they were unable to drop the interior hatch leading to the cabin. floor as planned, they just had to push it to the side, at first they could not find the astronauts through the dense smoke, even though the cabin lights were fully working, the bodies were found later, but it was difficult for the rescue team. to recover them, the fire had melted the hoses connecting Grissom and White to their life support system.

Grissom was found lying on the ground. It was obvious that he had removed his restraints. White was found lying on his side. His restraints were burned and Chaffey was found bound. his seat the recovery of the bodies took more than 80 minutes the director of flight crew operations deke slayden was the first nasa officer to check the interior of the spacecraft an investigation was launched and according to the

apollo

review board 204 grissom suffered third degree burns in more than 80 minutes a third of his body white also suffered third degree burns on almost half of his body and chaffey suffered third degree burns on a quarter of his body the main cause of his death was cardiac arrest caused by high concentrations of carbon monoxide in the ignition The source and level of pure oxygen in the atmosphere were among the main causes of the accident after the accident.

Jean Krantz, who was later ranked the second most popular space hero, gave a speech to mission control in honor of the lives lost during the accident, he said. From this day forward flight control will be known by two words hard and competent hard means that we will always be responsible for what we do or what we fail to do we will never again compromise our responsibilities every time we enter mission control we will know what representing competent means that we will never take anything for granted we will never lack knowledge and skills mission control will be perfect when you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write harshly and competently on your whiteboards , will never be erased each day when you walk into the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom White and Chaffee these words are the price of admission to the ranks of mission control the name Apollo 1 was made official by NASA in honor of the crew after the fire, since they were the ones who chose him.

NASA did not give up after this tragic accident and they had great success with the following Apollo programs, even putting the first man on the moon with Apollo. 11, 1969 to our dead heroes we say that we appreciate your efforts and may your souls continue to rest in peace. If you enjoyed this video and want more dark and mysterious content, click that ominous little red subscribe button down there and remember to ring that bell. icon before it's your turn until next time, the boys are still crazy