Apollo 1

• 1. Mission Planning And Crew Selection

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  On the 27th of January 1967, a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members of the planned first crewed mission. The mission was initially designated AS-204 and intended to be the first low Earth orbital test of the Apollo command and service module. Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton selected the first Apollo crew in January 1966 with Grissom as Command Pilot, White as Senior Pilot, and rookie Donn F. Eisele as Pilot. Eisele dislocated his shoulder twice aboard the KC-135 weightlessness training aircraft and had to undergo surgery on January 27. Slayton replaced him with Chaffee, and NASA announced the crew selection on the 21st of March 1966. James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart were named as the backup crew. In October 1966, NASA announced the flight would carry a small television camera to broadcast live from the command module. The camera would also be used to allow flight controllers to monitor the spacecraft's instrument panel in flight. Television cameras were carried aboard all crewed Apollo missions.

• 2. The Plugs-Out Test And Fire

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  At 1:00 pm EST (18:00 GMT) on January 27, first Grissom, then Chaffee, and White entered the command module fully pressure-suited. They were strapped into their seats and hooked up to the spacecraft's oxygen and communication systems. Grissom immediately noticed a strange odor in the air circulating through his suit which he compared to sour buttermilk. The simulated countdown was put on hold at 1:20 pm while air samples were taken. No cause of the odor could be found, and the countdown was resumed at 2:42 pm. Three minutes after the count was resumed the hatch installation was started. The hatch consisted of three parts: a removable inner hatch which stayed inside the cabin; a hinged outer hatch which was part of the spacecraft's heat shield; and an outer hatch cover which was part of the boost protective cover enveloping the entire command module. After the hatches were sealed, the air in the cabin was replaced with pure oxygen at 16.7 psi, higher than atmospheric pressure. A momentary increase in AC Bus2 voltage occurred nine seconds later at 6:31:04.7 when one of the astronauts exclaimed Hey or Fire or Flame. This was followed by two seconds of scuffling sounds through Grissom's open microphone. Immediately following this someone believed to be Chaffee said We've got a fire in the cockpit. After 6.8 seconds of silence a second badly garbled transmission was heard as They're fighting a bad fire Let's get out Open er up.

• 3. Investigation Findings And Causes

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  Immediately after the fire NASA Administrator James E. Webb asked President Lyndon B. Johnson to allow NASA to handle the investigation according to its established procedure. Deputy Director Seamans then ordered the establishment of the Apollo 204 Review Board chaired by Langley Research Center director Floyd L. Thompson. The board included astronaut Frank Borman, spacecraft designer Maxime Faget, and six others. On February 1 Cornell University professor Frank A. Long left the board and was replaced by Robert W. Van Dolah of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The next day North American's chief engineer for Apollo George Jeffs resigned as well. Seamans ordered all Apollo 1 hardware and software impounded to be released only under control of the board. After thorough stereo photographic documentation of the CM-012 interior the board ordered its disassembly using procedures tested by disassembling the identical CM-014. The review board identified several major factors which combined to cause the fire and the astronauts' deaths including an ignition source most probably related to vulnerable wiring carrying spacecraft power and vulnerable plumbing carrying a combustible and corrosive coolant. A pure oxygen atmosphere at higher than atmospheric pressure and a cabin sealed with a hatch cover which could not be quickly removed at high pressure were also key factors.

• 4. Political Fallout And Congressional Inquiry

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  Committees in both houses of the United States Congress with oversight of the space program soon launched investigations including the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences chaired by Senator Clinton P. Anderson. Seamans Webb Manned Space Flight Administrator Dr. George E. Mueller and Apollo Program Director Maj Gen Samuel C. Phillips were called to testify before Anderson's committee. In the February 27 hearing Senator Walter F. Mondale asked Webb if he knew of a report of extraordinary problems with the performance of North American Aviation on the Apollo contract. Webb replied he did not and deferred to his subordinates on the witness panel. However in late 1965 just over a year before the accident Phillips had headed a tiger team investigating the causes of inadequate quality schedule delays and cost overruns in both the Apollo CSM and the Saturn V second stage. He gave an oral presentation of his team's findings to Mueller and Seamans and also presented them in a memo to North American president John L. Atwood. During Mondale's 1967 questioning about what was to become known as the Phillips Report Seamans was afraid Mondale might actually have seen a hard copy of Phillips' presentation. Mondale continued to refer to the Report despite Phillips' refusal to characterize it as such and angered by what he perceived as Webb's deception and concealment of important program problems from Congress he questioned NASA's selection of North American as prime contractor.

• 5. Program Suspension And Redesign

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  After the fire the Apollo program was grounded for review and redesign. The command module was found to be extremely hazardous and in some instances carelessly assembled. It was decided that the remaining Block I spacecraft would be used only for uncrewed Saturn V test flights. All crewed missions would use the Block II spacecraft to which many command module design changes were made. The cabin atmosphere at launch was adjusted to 60% oxygen and 40% nitrogen at sea-level pressure. Nylon used in the Block I suits was replaced in the Block II suits with Beta cloth a non-flammable highly melt-resistant fabric woven from fiberglass and coated with Teflon. Block II had already been planned to use a completely redesigned hatch which opened outward and could be opened in less than five seconds. Flammable materials in the cabin were replaced with self-extinguishing versions. Plumbing and wiring were covered with protective insulation. Aluminum tubing was replaced with stainless steel tubing that used brazed joints when possible. Thorough protocols were implemented for documenting spacecraft construction and maintenance. Gene Kranz called a meeting of his staff in Mission Control three days after the accident delivering a speech which has subsequently become one of NASA's principles. Speaking of the errors and overall attitude surrounding the Apollo program before the accident he said We were too gung-ho about the schedule and we blocked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work.

• 6. Memorials And Legacy Sites

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  Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee were buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Ed White was buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point New York. The names of the Apollo 1 crew are among those of multiple astronauts who have died in the line of duty listed on the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island Florida. President Jimmy Carter awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor posthumously to Grissom on the 1st of October 1978. President Bill Clinton awarded it to White and Chaffee on the 17th of December 1997. An Apollo 1 mission patch was left on the Moon's surface after the first crewed lunar landing by Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The Apollo 15 mission left on the surface of the Moon a tiny memorial statue Fallen Astronaut along with a plaque containing the names of the Apollo 1 astronauts. After the Apollo 1 fire Launch Complex 34 was subsequently used only for the launch of Apollo 7 and later dismantled down to the concrete launch pedestal which remains at the site along with a few other concrete and steel-reinforced structures. In January 2005 three granite benches built by a college classmate of one of the astronauts were installed at the site on the southern edge of the launch pad.