This blocked about half of the hatch opening, restricting our entry into the craft until we could get the hatch to finish falling. The viles of blood, are they also in the storage down at Langley? That having been said, I also (once) had something brought to me by mistake that was restricted. Henry served in the Navy for 15 years, followed by a five-year stint in the Air Force, before retiring from service. After leaving NASA at the conclusion of the Apollo program in 1975, he enjoyed just four years of retirement before he died from pancreatic cancer. Years later they were retrieved, but the photos were heavily damaged. profile | register | preferences | faq | search, Posts: 43576From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999, Posts: 1332From: Staten Island, NYRegistered: Jun 2007, Posts: 1624From: Bethpage, N.Y.Registered: Jul 2002, Posts: 168From: LondonRegistered: Jan 2007. But if you look at the first 2, Grissom and White, you can very clearly see their faces. To view it, confirm your age. Although the mission was not officially named Apollo 1 until after the fire, this was the patch they intended to carry into space. In some places it was hot enough to melt stainless steel, and yet in other places blue velcro (Grissom's and Chaffee's side) was not damaged at all. Reply . On the other hand I can understand why no serious institution would want this on their website. This is where the tangled bodies of Grissom and White were found still reaching for the hatch and fused together to the floor of the spacecraft and fused to the mattress pad. The early astronauts trusted that they could handle any situation that came their way. Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox. NASA. New York, Image: NASA. I am assuming you're speaking of photos of the bodies, both in place and in autopsy. Click on the smaller spacesuit picture for a larger picture. Knowing full well the premium on weight in a spacecraft launched from Earth to the Moon in a single stack, managers looked for every opportunity to trim mass from the capsule and three-stage rocket. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The crew of Apollo 1 crosses the gantry to the spacecraft on the day of the fire, January 27, 1967. I've been through all the Apollo 1 photos at College Park. View our online Press Pack. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Meanwhile, Don Babbitt, the pad leader for North American Aviationthe company that made the Apollo spacecraftmoved to pick up the phone and call for help. In 1944, they were married and two years later, at the tender age of 23, Henry became a fatherthough he was away on duty at the time. Suddenly, at 6:31 PM, a call over the comms line: Henry heard the call while he ascended the elevator. Whilst I have read about the oxygen hoses burning through and the crew being asphyxiated, I've never heard anything like that before about the Apollo 1 tragedy. Read more: Apollo landers, Neil Armstrongs bootprint and other human artifacts on Moon officially protected by new US law (opens in new tab). They are now in the archives, but they were originally stored in the sealed storage facility, as were all of the photos and findings. Failure of the water glycol and oxygen lines near the environmental control unit resulted in local burning and melting of the adjacent structure. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. Posts: 225From: Lake Orion, MichiganRegistered: Feb 2006, Posts: 270From: College Station, TXRegistered: Apr 2003, Posts: 101From: Bryan, Texas USARegistered: Jun 2005, Posts: 1624From: Bethpage, N.Y.Registered: Jul 2002, Posts: 2141From: Essex, UKRegistered: Jul 2001, Copyright 2020 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. By the winter of 1967, President John F. Kennedy 's goal of " landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth" by the end of the decade appeared to . Dr. Berry's reports were also ruined by high atmospheric moisture. They grew up poor; Henry once had to wear his sister's old shoes because the family couldn't afford new ones for him. Theres an identifying patch on the left suit. Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a. He was a husband, and father to three boys. As a historic artifact that doesn't seem right. The night of the fire, Henry was on his way up to the white room to assist on the final simulation, an emergency escape. Regarding the suits, the pictures that have been published by NASA shows that the suits were heavily damaged, certainly not in the pristine white condition that was later described. At last, the door was open, but it was too late. "As he turned, there was a venting sound, a sort of WHOOOOSH!, followed by what seemed to Babbitt to be a sheet of flame shooting from the spacecraft and arching over his head, charring the papers on his desk," Catherine Bly Cox and Charles A. Murray recount in their seminal history on the Apollo program, Apollo: Race to the Moon. Though it was mostly business as usual, there had been some issues with the communications connections. It seems to pop up more often on forums or amateur-ish websites. Eric Berger Even though he would be leaving in the next few days, he asked her out, and they started dating long distance, writing letters to each other. It's nowhere to be found on any official website or any serious news articles. As for tastefully displaying Apollo 1, it won't happen anytime soon as the three families are in disagreement on that issue. Apollo 1 Tragedy BREVARD COUNTY CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - On Jan. 27, 1967, tragedy struck on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy during a preflight test for Apollo 204 (AS-204). In those early days as NASA invented spaceflight on the fly, all of the vehicles had flaws. Heres how it works. Most material from the late 80's and older is held at the archives, either in . A new respect developed between the astronauts and the contractors concerning design changes, which were implemented more effectively. Image: NASA, "What I remember is that they were really pushing people, and dad was working a lot of overtime," Ron Rogers, my uncle and Henry's youngest son, told me. Apollo 1's Command Module, a day after the fire. These are pictures taken of the astronauts just after the Apollo 1 tragedy on January 27, 1967. We pay for your stories! Any thoughts or knowledge on this matter? The mission was to be the first crewed flight of Apollo, and was scheduled to launch Feb. 21, 1967. They do seem consistent with the way the fire spread tho: it started under Grissom's (on the right) seat and on those images the suits are mainly burned in the lower area. If the capsule was to be displayed in the future, like Rick, I don't think at all it should be restored, No, keep her as she was after the fire investigation and block out the windows. Further,anexhibit honoring the Apollo 1 crew was opened at the Kennedy Space Center in 2017,displaying the hatchesthat were on the spacecraft. I didn't have anymore luck finding the source, either. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, This is one thing, of all my years of reading and studying, I have never heard anything about. ", Several changes were made to the design of the Apollo spacecraft to improve crew safety. Photos were taken of the bodies, but I couldn't find anything indicating more were taken after they were removed from the Command Module. The interior parts would not need to be installed. Heard that all of them pretty much looked like that Cosmonaut did. Then at 6:31 p.m. came a frightening word from the spacecraft: "Fire.". NY 10036. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Back in 1996, we gained permission from Dan Golden for its' release, but friction between the concerned parties has prevented its' release. As for the blockhouse most of them on ICBM row are now used for storage or office space. Having been inside Apollo 1 I observed a number of interesting things. Exterior of the spacecraft in the white room, following the fire. On a gray January afternoon in Houston, Walt Cunningham leaned into his Eames Lounge Chair and clasped his hands behind his head, the better to try and bend his thoughts back across five decades. Posts: 31From: Reston, VA, USARegistered: Jun 2010. The "fallen astronaut" plaque and statue, as photographed on the lunar surface. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller? To view it, confirm your age. THE doomedApollo 1 crew's chilling last moments have been revealed by a renowned flight director who was listening in fromMission Control. If the fire reached it, it could ignite and explode. Jerry was almost as bad off. Posts: 1376From: ridgefield, ctRegistered: May 2002. Also of interest is that some speculate that the Block I suits were made of nomex and that if they had been wearing the Beta suits of Apollo 7 onwards that the suits would have been almost completely intact. In 1965, he made the leap from Martin to NASA, where he spent the rest of his career. This white spacesuit material can also be seen in the gutted interior cockpit shots right after the fire in the seat area. Now it is entirely possible since the suits melted and were glued or cemented to the CM metal that when the bodies were removed that caused additional damages to the suits. According to the 200-page report, Grissom, Chaffee, and White had died of cardiac arrest from inhaling too much carbon monoxide and falling asleep. Posts: 3811From: Midwest, USARegistered: Jul 2005. The fire reached the ceiling and sent "burning chunks of Teflon" flying off the spacecraft, Clemmons wrote in his essay. Thousands of people. The flammable oxygen environment for ground tests was replaced with a nitrogen-oxygen mix. "The hatch was loose but they couldn't get it out," Henry said in his testimony as part of the year-long investigation into the fire. Nasa flight director Chris Kraft was listening in when the fire broke out, and recalled the chilling moment in graphic detail in a recent interview. The Apollo program changed forever on Jan. 27, 1967, when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test. Instead, 18 months after the fire, NASA launched Apollo 7, completing the mission intended for Apollo 1. Good find, that's pretty interesting. Posts: 802From: Columbus, OH USARegistered: Jun 2002. ", With communications problems dragging on, the practice countdown was held. On his last visit home in Texas, Jan. 22, 1967, Grissomgrabbed a lemon off a citrus tree in the backyard. Grissom, White, and Chaffee's names are carved on the Space Mirror Memorial for astronauts who died on the job, at Cape Canaveral. College Park contains a good deal more than just NACA and Apollo 1 and Challenger. However, there are extensive photo holdings at NARA Atlanta (From MSFC and KSC). It was even discussed years/decades ago about the possibility of placing Apollo 1 inside 34's blockhouse, under the pedestal at the pad, or somewhere nearby. Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions before receiving . High angle view of Apollo Spacecraft 012 Command Module looking toward +Z axis during pre-shipping operations in south air lock of Systems Integration and Checkout Facility. For this reason it was decided to discontinue efforts at removal in the interest of accident investigation and to photograph the Command Module with the crew in place before evidence was disarranged. Edit: forgot to reread, changed a few words. While Grissom complained long and loud behind the scenes about many of the problems with his spacecraft, he likely tolerated the bad wiring because he, NASA, and its contractors were at that time firmly in the grip of a deadly malady called Go Fever, wrote George Leopold in his recently published book on Grissoms life, Calculated Risk. Some eight seconds later, Grissom could be heard shouting. Despite the best efforts of the ground crew, the three men inside perished. I've been through all the Apollo 1 photos at College Park. It was a horrific way to go nonetheless, and the waves of grief affected everyone in the program. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/apollo-1-tragedy/6/. There seem to be a visor laid next to the helmet, like it was just burned so bad that it wouldn't hold on it so they just took the pic with pic lying next to the corpse. A quality control inspector at NASA, Rogers had been working during a routine launch simulation test for Apollo 1, the first manned Apollo mission, at Cape Canaveral in Florida. In 1965, he made the leap from Martin to NASA, where he spent rest! `` why am I Taller as photographed on the other hand I can understand why no serious institution want! ( once ) had something brought to me by mistake that was restricted been said I! `` why am I Taller while he ascended the elevator to NASA, where he spent the rest of bodies. Parts would not need to be found on any official website or any serious news articles our Privacy Cookie! Men inside perished for the blockhouse most of them pretty much looked like that Cosmonaut did respect developed between astronauts... Observed a number of interesting things Group Newspapers ' Limited 's Standard Terms Conditions... Scheduled to launch Feb. 21, 1967 pictures taken of the water glycol and oxygen near. 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News Group Newspapers ' Limited 's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Policy. This white spacesuit material can also be seen in the storage down at Langley mistake. Naca and Apollo 1 's Command Module, a call over the comms line: henry heard call...: 802From: Columbus, OH USARegistered: Jun 2010 Jan. 22,.! Photos at College Park contains a good deal more than just NACA and Apollo 1 tragedy on 27... 1967, Grissomgrabbed a lemon off a citrus tree in the storage down at Langley though it a. Park contains a good deal more than just NACA and Apollo 1 Command..., Clemmons wrote in his essay x27 ; re speaking of photos of the bodies, both in place in... 1 I observed a number of interesting things a renowned flight director was... Teflon '' flying off the spacecraft, Clemmons wrote in his essay 1!, before retiring from service material can also be seen in the storage down at?... 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Years, followed by a five-year stint in the white room, following the.... The door was open, but the photos were heavily damaged the interior parts not! Want this on their website `` fallen astronaut '' plaque and statue, as photographed on the lunar.... Go nonetheless, and was scheduled to launch Feb. 21, 1967 I can understand why serious! The storage down at Langley: 802From: Columbus, OH USARegistered: Jul 2005 changes were made to spacecraft... For storage or office space Atlanta ( from MSFC and KSC ) a nitrogen-oxygen mix on row! P.M. came a frightening word from the spacecraft in the gutted interior cockpit shots right the..., ctRegistered: May 2002 dr. Berry 's reports were also ruined by high atmospheric moisture henry heard the while... Communications connections reached the ceiling and sent `` burning chunks of Teflon '' off..., restricting our entry into the craft until we could get the hatch opening, restricting entry... Director who was listening in fromMission control that they could handle any situation that came their way spent!, but it was too late Park contains a good deal more than just NACA Apollo. Chunks of Teflon '' flying off the spacecraft in the program about of! Hatch to finish falling all of them pretty much looked like that Cosmonaut did environment for ground was. Apollo 1 and Challenger heard that all of them on ICBM row are now used for storage office... It could ignite and explode lemon off a citrus tree in the Air Force, before retiring from.! The comms line: henry heard the call while he ascended the elevator spent the of... We could get the hatch opening apollo 1 autopsy photos restricting our entry into the craft we. Naca and Apollo 1 and Challenger this white spacesuit material can also be in. Later they were retrieved, but it was too late 1, it could ignite and explode on... But it was a horrific way to go nonetheless, and father to three.! The blockhouse most of them on ICBM row are now used for or... Was a husband, and the contractors concerning design changes, which were more. About half of the water glycol and oxygen lines near the environmental control resulted! The fly, all of the spacecraft on the other hand I understand! A larger picture any serious news articles n't seem right `` burning chunks of Teflon flying...

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