Jan 27 1967
From The Space Library
Three-man crew for NASA's first manned Apollo spaceflight (AS- 204) died, apparently instantly, when flash fire swept through their Apollo 1 spacecraft mated to an Uprated Saturn I booster 218 ft above the ground. Crew was Virgil I. Grissom, one of seven original Mercury astronauts; Edward H. White II, first American to walk in space; and Roger B. Chaffee, preparing for his first space flight. Accident, worst in the history of the U.S. space program, occurred at 6:31 p.m. EST at KSC'S Launch Complex 34 during first major rehearsal for scheduled Feb. 21 mission. Immediately after tragedy, MSC Director Dr. Robert Gilruth, Chairman of the Board of North American Aviation, Inc., Lee Atwood, and NASA's Apollo Program Director M/G Samuel C. Phillips flew to KSC from Washington, D.C. General Phillips described the accident at a press conference Jan. 28: "The facts briefly are: at 6:31 p.m. (EST) the observers heard a report which originated from one of the crewmen that there was a fire aboard the spacecraft . . ." At T-10 and holding in the countdown, observers saw a "flash fire" break out inside the spacecraft, penetrate its shell, and surround its exterior with smoke. Rescue workers rushed to the pad area but could not open the hatch for five minutes. Phillips said astronauts' only hope of escape would have to open hatch manually with a crank tool. He refused to speculate on how long accident would delay the Apollo Program or on source of the fire but admitted that "if there is an ignition source . . . in pure oxygen this, of course, has flash-fire potential." His statement that spacecraft was operating on internal power when fire broke out was corrected Feb. 3 by NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Robert C. Seamans: "The fuel cells in the service module were not in use, and the so-called internal power was being supplied by batteries having the same characteristics as the fuel cells but located external to the spacecraft." NASA immediately appointed a board of inquiry (see Jan. 28) and announced that all data had been impounded pending its formal investigation. Unmanned Apollo flights would proceed on schedule, but manned flights were postponed until board's inquiry was completed. Apollo 1 backup crew-Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and Walter B. Cunningham - were expected to be named prime crew for rescheduled mission. (NASA Proj Off; NASA Release 67-16; NYT, 1/28/67, 1, 18; 1/29/67, 1, 48, E l ; W Post, 1/28/67, Al, A7; 1/29/67, AI, A18; W Star, 1/28/67, Al, A4; 1/29/67, Al, A6)
Representatives of 62 nations signed space law treaty [see Dec. 8, 1966] at separate ceremonies in Washington, D.C., London, and Moscow. Notable absentees were Communist China, Albania, and Cuba. Representatives of France said they would sign after studying treaty further. At White House ceremony, attended by Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, British Ambassador Sir Patrick Dean, and US. Ambassador to the U.N. Arthur Goldberg, President Johnson described treaty as the first firm step toward keeping outer space free forever from the implements of war" and said it would assure that American and Soviet astronauts "will meet someday on the moon as brothers and not as warriors." Treaty, which limited military activities in space, had been agreed upon by US. and U.S.S.R. Dec. 8, 1966, and unanimously approved by U.N. General Assembly Dec. 19. It would become effective when ratified by US., U.S.S.R., U.K., and two other countries. (Kilpatrick, W Post, 1/28/67, 1; Frankel, NYT, 1/28/67,1)
NASA awarded Boeing Co. net bonus of $1,895,312 in accordance with incentive contract provisions for superior performance of Lunar Orbiter I spacecraft. Boeing Go. was prime contractor for Lunar Orbiter I , launched by NASA Aug. 10, 1966, on mission to orbit the moon and photograph possible landing sites for Apollo astronauts. (NASA Release 67-14)
JPL issued RFP'S to industry on contracts for preliminary design and definition studies of an unmanned Voyager landing capsule. Two identical Voyager spacecraft would be launched by a single Saturn V booster in 1973 and 1975 to conduct scientific studies of Mars and search for extraterrestrial life. From the industrial proposals, due in March, two to four contractors would be chosen. (NASA Release 67-15)
Listen to an interview recorded on this day with Lee Scherer, program manager of the Lunar Orbiter program.
U.S.S.R. was definitely trying to achieve the first manned lunar landing, concluded a 920-page report on the Soviet space program prepared by Library of Congress Legislative Reference Service for Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences: ". . . materials gathered from Soviet sources on future lunar missions reveal this pattern of complete unanimity: the lunar mission is desirable and necessary; it must be a manned mission; it is certain to succeed. . . ." Report characterized Soviet space program as "well-planned, orderly, and vigorously pursued with concentration on specific, limited objectives, each achieving a marked advance beyond the one preceding." There was said to be no evidence "of either Soviet disenchantment with the program or a desire . . . to cut it back. On the contrary, space specialists have underscored the durability of the Soviet commitment to space exploration. . . ." Report was entitled: Soviet Space Program, 196245; Goals and Purposes, Achievements, Plans, and International Implications. (Text)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
