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going to space was always a risk but in
the beginning of the Apollo program the
United States got a stark realization of
just how dangerous its moon missions
would be the Apollo program almost ended
before it even got off the ground in the
mid 1960s NASA was working at breakneck
speed attempting to take another step
towards president john f kennedy's goal
to land a man on the moon by the end of
the decade apollo program
engineers were still focused on
fulfilling the foundation for the
project's objectives establishing the
technology to meet other national
interests in space achieving preeminence
in space for the u.s. carrying out a
program of scientific exploration of the
moon and developing man's capability to
work in the lunar environment by 1966
nasa upgraded its first multi-stage
rocket the saturn one to the more
powerful Saturn 1b
the top part of the rocket was where
several major systems lived including
the Apollo spacecraft known as the
command service module or CSM the
command module was considered the mother
ship with the goal of carrying the
astronauts to space and then returning
them safely to earth
inside were three compartments including
the sealed crew cabin which only had
about six cubic meters of space with all
the operational displays crew couches
and equipment there was a very little
room left over for the astronauts to
maneuver a prototype version of the
spacecraft the Apollo block one CSM
would be the first to embark on a manned
mission NASA set the launch date for
February 21st 1967 the purpose of the
flight was to test launch operations
ground tracking and control facilities
and the performance of the Saturn 1b
rocket and the CSM spacecraft NASA
selected two veterans
and one rookie as the crew for the
mission that was later dubbed Apollo 1
the command pilot Gus Grissom was no
stranger to the stress of spaceflight
Grissom was one of the original mercury
pilots and during the splashdown of his
first mission the capsules hatch blew
open causing him to nearly drown the
senior pilot was Ed white who was the
first American to conduct a spacewalk
during project Jenny and the pilot was
Roger Chaffee who at 31 would be the
youngest American ever to go to space he
was added to the crew as a replacement
after the original pilot dislocated his
shoulder during training Chaffee was
known as a notoriously nice guy who was
often teased by other astronauts for his
admiration of Grissom and white he saw
the Apollo 1 mission as a way to prove
himself worthy of the title of astronaut
early on in their training Grissom and
the rest of the crew voiced concerns
with the spacecraft primarily with the
amount of flammable material in the
cabin the astronauts jokingly presented
this crew portrait to the Apollo
spacecraft program office manager after
he gave the spacecraft a passing grade
but the thing is the astronauts weren't
alone in their concerns in fact some
experts believed the immense pressure of
Kennedy's deadline forced NASA and the
contractor
North American Aviation to make
decisions that sacrificed safety one of
the main concerns was NASA's decision to
opt for a single gas environment inside
the capsule over a dual gas environment
because it required a lighter system
this meant that the Apollo spacecraft
would use 100% oxygen in the crew cabin
so even a small spark could quickly turn
into a blaze adding to that fear other
astronauts reported seeing what appeared
to be frayed wires and short circuits in
the cabin of the spacecraft there were
also issues with the decision to have
the hatch open inward and the fact that
it didn't carry explosive bolts in the
case of an emergency NASA and North
American Aviation made as many
adjustments as possible but in the
interest of time they decided to move
forward with the February flight one
month before launch the rocket and
spacecraft were cleared for what was
referred to as a plugs out test at 1:00
p.m. on January 27th the Apollo 1
astronauts entered the command module
sealed the hatch and prepared for what
was considered a sort of dress rehearsal
for the actual flight there were
problems from the start
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first there was a foul odor emanating
from the oxygen tank and then there was
an alarm triggered indicating a high
oxygen flow to the frustration of the
crew
static continually drowned communication
with the controller at 6:31 p.m. the
test conductors were ready to start the
countdown but seconds later horror
struck a flash fire ripped through the
spacecraft the emergency escape
procedure called for a minimum of 90
seconds but it only took about 30
seconds for the flames and toxic smoke
to engulf the crew cabin
despite heroic efforts by NASA ground
crews and controllers it took a full
five minutes to open the hatch
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the deaths of Grissom white and Chaffey
were a shocking wake-up call that caused
many to question President Kennedy's
deadline to put a man on the moon all
the progress NASA had made was blinded
by tragedy the investigation of the
Apollo 1 fire forced a hold on the space
program the hard lessons learned from
this mission would dictate new stringent
checks and balances that would inform
all NASA missions to follow ultimately
changing the nation's path to the moon
there's a lot of history that led up to
this point so if you want to learn more
about the start of the space race on
NASA's first missions check out this
video and make sure you subscribe to
seeker to follow the entire Apollo
series thanks for watching
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