Apollo 1 Fire 50 yrs. ago

[cbtengr]

I was 10 when this happened but I remember it like it was yesterday. I came across this detailed report on line concerning the events of that day. It was a terrible tragedy but it led to positive changes in the area of safety at NASA.

RIP LTC Grissom, LTCMDR Chaffee and LTC White.

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_01a_Summary.htm

NASA.jpg

[The Reaper]

I was the same age and remember it well.

RIP, gents.

TR

[PSM]

I was 16 and lived a couple of blocks from my high school. I was at home eating lunch when the announcement was made on TV. I remember it like the Kennedy assassination.

I also remember both Grissom's Mercury mission and White's Gemini mission. I don't remember Grisson's Gemini mission, but do remember speculation of it giving him a chance to redeem himself after losing his Mercury capsule.

Rest in Peace, pioneers!

Pat

[Streck-Fu]

......but do remember speculation of it giving him a chance to redeem himself after losing his Mercury capsule.

I was born after these events but remember reading that there was no reeal blame assigned to Grissom after the events and that such speculation is the result of Tom Wolf's The Right Stuff.

[abc_123]

A great book on NASA from its inception thru the Apollo program. Lots of personal observations and give a real sense of what NASA was really like back in the days where nothing was impossible.

Flight: My Life in Mission Control by Christopher C. Kraft

Kraft was NASA's first Human Space Mission Flight Director . NASA Mission Control is named after him.

This was said about Kraft during the dedication by the Johnson Space Center Director at the time.

“Dr. Kraft’s life stands as a testament to his dream of exploring space. A dream he realized here on Earth, in this building and at this center, through his engineering and managerial expertise. He is a space pioneer without whom we’d never have heard those historic words on the surface of the moon, ‘Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed.’ Those words effectively put Houston, and this building behind us, on the intergalactic map forever.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_C._Kraft_Jr.

[Razor]

To dare mightily, and achieve...

"But, no matter what you do, it will never be perfectly, 100% risk-free to fly. Or to drive, or to walk, or to do anything.

One of our pilots here died when he waited too long to eject from a spinning aircraft. He was wrong; he should have jumped out earlier. He failed in his duty, IMO.

One of our engineers was walking his dog when a car driven by a kid jumped the curb and hit him. Only his leg was broken. But he walks his dog again, now. Who knows better than him the danger?

There's no way to make life perfectly safe; you can't get out of it alive.

You can't even predict every danger. How can you guard against a hazard you can't even conceive of?

I agree that the days of "kick the tires and light the fires" are gone, but insisting on perfect safety is the single most reliable way of killing an aerospace project.

I've been on both sides of the FRR (Flight Readiness Review) process for a number of aeronautical projects. Experienced engineers try to think of everything that can go wrong. But airplanes can still surprise the best team.

I've had to sign a form, certifying that to the best of my knowledge everything that we're going to do on a flight is safe. I've never seriously asked myself "What will I say to the AIB (Accident Investigation Board)" because once one starts on that, the form will never be signed, the flight will never be flown, and the research will never be done.

But I have asked myself "Have I told everybody exactly what we're going to do and what the 'known' risks are and are we agreed that these risks are acceptable" and when I can answer that "yes" I sign the form. That also answers the question of what I'd say to the AIB.

I'm not talking about abstract theories here, I'm talking about test pilots that I've known for decades. Believe me, I 'know' exactly what the consequences of a mistake on my part could mean. The reminders are all around me: Edwards AFB — killed in the XB-49, Lilly Ave — first NASA pilot killed at what's now Dryden, Love Rd — I 'saw' Mike's burning F-4 auger into the lakebed, with him in it. But once I've done my best, like everybody else on the team, it's time to go fly the airplane.

Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world."

- Mary Shafer, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead Engineer

[Old Dog New Trick]

Razor-

Excellent advice.

I've always liked and lived by: "It's gonna work right?" "Maybe" "Okay, let's do it!"

RIP to those pioneers before us who reached for the stars and showed us the way forward.

Nobody ever succeeded without a little failure along the way.

[bblhead672]

Much like how the loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593) led to the SUBSAFE quality assurance program for submarine construction, the tragedy of Apollo 1 led to wide ranging changes in how NASA was conducting operations.

[PSM]

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

I was born after these events but remember reading that there was no reeal blame assigned to Grissom after the events and that such speculation is the result of Tom Wolf's The Right Stuff.

I didn't read the book until another 16 years later so it didn't infect my memory. AM may be able to shed a little better light on the issue, though. I had autographed photos of most of the original 7 but my mother threw them away while I was in the Army.

BTW, as Chuck Yeager points out, the Air Force was training "astronauts" long before NASA came along.

Pat

[Ambush Master]

Remember this day FAR TOO WELL!! Gus Jr. was a Classmate @ Clear Creek HS and my lab partner in Physics II. Ed White wrote one of my "Letters of Recommendation" for West Point. (The other was by Frank Borman.)

I grew up with all of the Astronaut's Kids in the '60s, was a very interesting time!!

[Bleed Green]

A truly tragic day for all Americans. I still remember watching Walter Cronkite on the news detailing their loss.

Ambush, I met Frank Borman when my first wife was dying of cancer and his wife Susan had been admitted that same night to our local hospital. A very nice man and a pillar of our community.