My husband worked at Cape Canaveral on Grumman's Apollo Lunar Module - referred to as the LEM. He got a call at home around 7:30 p.m. telling him of the fire and that all 3 astronauts had died. They were unable to open the hatch because of excess cabin pressure and were pounding on the hatch and screaming for several minutes before they died. This account was confirmed for him by several men who witnessed this when he went into work at the Cape the next day. But the official NASA spin, trying to protect its funding, was: "The three astronauts died of asphyxiation. Their deaths were relatively quick and painless, their suits protecting them from the intense heat of the fire." I recall the various contractors at the Cape referred to NASA as standing for Never A Straight Answer.
Another bit of local lore - Grissom had been so unhappy with multiple problems with the Apollo and the inability of the engineers to adequately address them that he brought a lemon in from home and hung it on the rocket.
On January 22, 1967, Grissom made a brief stop at home before returning to the Cape. A citrus tree grew in their backyard with lemons on it as big as grapefruits. Gus yanked the largest lemon he could find off of the tree. Betty had no idea what he was up to and asked what he planned to do with the lemon. " 'I'm going to hang it on that spacecraft,' Gus said grimly and kissed her goodbye." (54) Betty knew that Gus would be unable to return home before the crew conducted the plugs out test on January 27, 1967. What she did not know was that January 22 would be "the last time he was here at the house".
Apollo 1
On Jan. 27, 1967, the three-member crew of Apollo 1 -- Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee -- were inside the capsule during a dress rehearsal, when a fire ignited inside the oxygen-rich atmosphere, killing all three men.
The program was suspended for nearly two years to fix major flaws in the capsule's design.
Among other causative factors identified by the review board was the hatch design:
Hatch design
The higher than atmospheric cabin pressure made it impossible for the senior pilot to remove the inner hatch, until the excess cabin pressure (16.7 psi absolute, 2 psi above ambient) had been vented. Emergency procedure called for the command pilot to open the cabin vent first,[6] but this was located near the origin of the fire, and while the system could easily vent the normal pressure, it was utterly incapable of handling the extra increase in pressure (to at least 29 psi absolute) caused by the fire.[19]
North American had originally suggested the hatch open outward and use explosive bolts to blow the hatch in case of emergency, as had been done in Project Mercury. NASA did not agree, arguing the hatch could accidentally open, as it had on Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 flight, so the inward-opening hatch was selected early in the Block I design.[citation needed]
Before the fire, the Apollo astronauts had recommended changing the design to an outward-opening hatch, and this was already slated for inclusion in the Block II Command Module design. According to Donald K. Slayton's testimony before the House investigation of the accident, this was based on ease of exit for spacewalks and at the end of flight, rather than for emergency exit.[33]
Three brave men - rest in peace.
= new reply since forum marked as read
