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Apollo 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Apollo 1 (initially designated AS-204) was the first manned mission of the U.S. Apollo manned lunar Apollo 1 (also AS-204) landing program.[1] The planned low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967, because a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module (CM).[1] The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on Grissom, White, and Chaffee pose in front of their Apollo/Saturn IB space vehicle on the April 24, 1967.[1] launch pad, ten days before a cabin fire that Immediately after the fire, NASA convened the claimed their lives Apollo 204 Accident Review Board to determine Mission type Crewed spacecraft verification the cause of the fire, and both houses of the test United States Congress launched their own committee inquiries to oversee NASA's Operator NASA investigation. During the investigation, a NASA Mission Up to 14 days (planned) internal document citing problems with prime duration Apollo contractor North American Aviation was publicly revealed by then-Senator Walter F. Spacecraft properties Mondale, and became known as the "Phillips Spacecraft CSM-012 Report", embarrassing NASA Administrator James E. Webb, who was unaware of the Spacecraft Apollo Command/Service document's existence, and attracting controversy type Module, Block I to the Apollo program. Despite congressional Manufacturer North American Aviation displeasure at NASA's openness, both congressional committees ruled that the issues Launch mass 20,000 kilograms (45,000 lb) raised in the report had no bearing on the Crew accident, and allowed NASA to continue with the program. Crew size 3 Members Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Although the ignition source could not be Command Pilot conclusively identified, the astronauts' deaths Edward H. White, Senior Pilot were attributed to a wide range of lethal design Roger Chaffee, Pilot and construction flaws in the early Apollo Command Module. Manned Apollo flights were Start of mission suspended for 20 months while these problems Launch date February 21, 1967 (planned) were corrected. The Saturn IB launch vehicle, SA- 204, scheduled for use on this mission, was later Rocket Saturn IB AS-204 used for the first unmanned Lunar Module (LM) Launch site Cape Canaveral LC-34 test flight, Apollo 5.[2] The first successful End of mission manned Apollo mission was flown by Apollo 1's backup crew on Apollo 7 in October 1968. Destroyed January 27, 1967 23:31:19 UTC Orbital parameters Contents Reference Geocentric system 1 Crew 1.1 First backup crew (April – Regime Low Earth orbit December 1966) Perigee 220 kilometers (120 nmi) 1.2 Second backup crew (December (planned) 1966 – January 1967) 2 Mission background Apogee 300 kilometers (160 nmi) 2.1 Mission insignia (planned) 2.2 Spacecraft problems Inclination 31 degrees (planned) 3 Accident Period 89.7 minutes (planned) 3.1 Plugs-out test 3.2 Fire 4 Investigation 4.1 Ignition source 4.2 Pure oxygen atmosphere 4.2.1 Other oxygen fires 4.3 Flammable materials in the cabin 4.4 Hatch design 4.5 Emergency preparedness 5 Political fallout 6 Program recovery 6.1 Command Module redesign 6.2 New mission naming scheme 7 Memorials 7.1 Launch Complex 34 7.2 Stars, landmarks on the Moon and Mars 7.3 Civic and other memorials 8 Remains of CM-012 9 Popular culture 10 See also Left to right: White, Grissom, Chaffee 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading Apollo program 14 External links ← AS-202 Apollo 4 → Crew Position Astronaut Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom Senior Pilot Edward H. White II Pilot Roger B. Chaffee First backup crew (April – December 1966) Position Astronaut Command Pilot James A. McDivitt Senior Pilot David R. Scott Pilot Russell L. "Rusty" Schweickart This crew flew on Apollo 9. Second backup crew (December 1966 – January 1967) Grissom, Chaffee and White participate in Apollo 1 water Position Astronaut egress training, June 1966 Command Pilot Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Senior Pilot Donn F. Eisele Pilot R. Walter Cunningham This crew flew on Apollo 7. Mission background AS-204 was to be the first manned test flight of the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) to Earth orbit, launched on a Saturn IB rocket. AS-204 was to test launch operations, ground tracking and control facilities and the performance of the Apollo-Saturn launch assembly and would have lasted up to two weeks, depending on how the spacecraft performed.[3] The CSM for this flight, number 012 built by North American Aviation (NAA), was a Block I version designed before the lunar orbit rendezvous landing strategy was chosen; therefore it lacked capability of docking with the Lunar Module. This Official portrait of prime and was incorporated into the Block II CSM design, along with backup crews for AS-204, as of lessons learned in Block I. Block II would be test-flown with the April 1, 1966. The backup LM when the latter was ready, and would be used on the crew (standing) of McDivitt Moon landing flights. (center), Scott (left) and Schweickart were replaced by Deke Slayton, the Mercury astronaut who was grounded and Schirra, Eisele and became Director of Flight Crew Operations, selected the first Cunningham in December Apollo crew in January 1966, with Grissom as Command Pilot, 1966. White as Senior Pilot, and rookie Donn F. Eisele as Pilot. But Eisele dislocated his shoulder twice aboard the KC135 weightlessness training aircraft, and had to undergo surgery on January 27. Slayton replaced him with Chaffee,[4] and NASA announced the crew selection on March 21, 1966. James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart were named as the backup crew. On September 29, Walter Schirra, Eisele, and Walter Cunningham were named as the prime crew for a second Block I CSM flight, AS-205. NASA planned to follow this with an unmanned test flight of the LM (AS-206), then the third manned mission would be a dual flight designated AS-278 (or AS-207/208), in which AS-207 would launch the first manned Block II CSM, which would then rendezvous and dock with the LM launched unmanned on AS-208. In March, NASA was studying the possibility of flying the first Apollo mission as a joint space rendezvous with the final Project Gemini mission, Gemini 12 in November 1966.[5] But by May, delays in making Apollo ready for flight just by itself, and the extra time needed to incorporate compatibility with the Gemini, made that impractical.[6] This became moot when slippage in readiness of the AS-204 spacecraft caused the last-quarter 1966 target date to be missed, and the mission was rescheduled for February 21, 1967.[7] Grissom was resolved to keep his craft in orbit for a full 14 days if there was any way to do so. A newspaper article published on August 4, 1966, referred to the flight as "Apollo 1".[8] CM-012 arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on August 26, labeled Apollo One by NAA on its packaging. 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.[9] Television cameras were carried aboard all manned Command Module 012, Apollo missions. labeled Apollo One, arrives at Kennedy Space Center, By December 1966, the second August 26, 1966 Block I flight AS-205 was canceled as unnecessary; and Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham were reassigned as the backup crew for Apollo 1. McDivitt's crew was now promoted to prime crew of the Block II / LM mission, re-designated AS- 258 because the AS-205 launch vehicle would be used in place of AS-207. A third manned mission was planned to launch the CSM and LM together on a Saturn V (AS-503) to an elliptical medium Earth orbit (MEO), to be crewed by Frank Borman, Chaffee, White, and Grissom Michael Collins and William Anders. McDivitt, Scott and training in a simulator of their Schweickart had started their training for AS-258 in CM-101 at Command Module cabin, the NAA plant in Downey, California, when the Apollo 1 January 19, 1967 accident occurred. Mission insignia Grissom's crew received approval in June 1966 to design a mission patch with the name Apollo 1. The design's center depicts a Command/Service Module flying over the southeastern United States with Florida (the launch point) prominent. The Moon is seen in the distance, symbolic of the eventual program goal. A yellow border carries the mission and astronaut names with another border set with stars and stripes, trimmed in gold. The insignia was designed by the Apollo 1 Fliteline medallion crew, with the artwork done by North American Aviation (later flown on Apollo 9 by Jim McDivitt). employee Allen Stevens.[10][11] Spacecraft problems The Apollo Command/Service Module spacecraft was much bigger and far more complex than any previously implemented spacecraft design. In October 1963, Joseph F. Shea was named Apollo Spacecraft Program Office (ASPO) manager, responsible for managing the design and construction of both the CSM and the LM. In a spacecraft review meeting held with Shea on August 19, 1966 (a week before delivery), the crew expressed concern about the amount of flammable material (mainly nylon netting and Velcro) in the cabin, which the technicians found The Apollo 1 crew expressed convenient for holding tools and equipment in place.