On January 27 , 1967 , catastrophe strike at Cape Canaveral in Florida . During a routine test prior to launching NASA ’s Apollo 1 foreign mission , three astronauts were killed when their ballistic capsule caught fire . Fifty years on , the issue still live sweet in the remembering .
NASA has been commemorating those three astronauts – Gus Grissom , Ed White , and Roger Chaffee – this workweek . The event has also paid deference to the gang of Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia , who lost their life history in 1986 and 2003 , respectively .
" Each year , at this time , we come together and we pause to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in our quest to explore beyond our home satellite , " say Bob Cabana , managing director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida , in astatement . " We pause to enforce the lesson con so they are not reduplicate again . "
The three astronauts on Apollo 1 were conjecture to be embark on the first mission of NASA ’s ambitious Moon plan . The military mission would have test the spacecraft in Earth eye socket , ahead of upcoming mission to lunar eye socket and finally a lunar landing .
For Grissom , this was to be his third flight , after becoming the 2nd American in outer space aboard Liberty Bell 7 , the second mission of Project Mercury , in 1961 . He also afterward fly on Gemini 3 in 1965 .
Ed White became the first American to walk in space during Gemini 4 in 1965 , famously annotate at the conclusion of the spacewalk : “ I ’m coming back in … and it ’s the saddest mo of my life story . ” Roger Chaffee meanwhile , was going to be flying on his first foreign mission to space .
Launch Complex 34 , where the fire ask place , was used for one more launch ( Apollo 7 ) before being crawl in as a memorial to Apollo 1 . RadioFan / Wikipedia
On January 27 , the Apollo 1 capsule was sitting on a Saturn 1B rocket at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 34 , ahead of a planned launching on February 21 . The space vehicle was going through a “ plugs - out ” test , where applied scientist tested to see if could operate on its own inner power .
The abridgement was full of unadulterated , high - pressure O to repeat condition in orbit . This would prove black as , at 6:30:54pm local time , an unnamed electric electric discharge ignited this extremely flammable gasoline . Someone speak over the radio , probably Chaffee , saying “ we ’ve puzzle a flaming in the cockpit ” . This was travel along by a scream of painful sensation . you could listen to the concluding transcripthere , although be admonish that it make for uncomfortable listening .
probe would later show that the interior capsule was immediately engross in attack . There were17 secondsbetween the call of alarm and the radio lead dumb . Estimates evoke the astronauts were dead within a minute , being unable to start the complicated hatch from the interior .
Man would ultimately walk on the Moon after a comprehensive review and probe . But the lifespan of these three , and others , are forever remembered .
