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January 27, 1967 <\/o:p><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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The crew of NASA’s Apollo\/Saturn 204 (more commonly known as Apollo 1) was killed in a flash fire while training for the first manned Apollo mission scheduled to be launched on February 21. <\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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On board were astronaut Virgil I. \"Gus\" Grissom, (the second American astronaut to fly into space) astronaut Edward H. White II, (the first American astronaut to \"walk\" in space) and astronaut Roger B. Chaffee, (a \"rookie\" astronaut on his first space mission). <\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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They were involved in a \"plugs-out\" test, with the Command Module mounted on the Saturn 1B rocket on Launch Pad 34B.  <\/SPAN>This test was a simulation, going through an entire countdown sequence. <\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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The training session was plagued by minor problems all day.  <\/SPAN>However, the day took at tragic turn at 6:31 p.m., when a voice  <\/SPAN>(later believed to be Roger Chaffee) exclaimed, “Fire, I smell fire.” Two seconds later, Ed White\'s voice came over the circuit, “Fire in the cockpit.” <\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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Although rescue personnel were on hand, they were unable to reach the astronauts in time.<\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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A hold was placed on the entire Apollo program while an exhaustive investigation was made of the accident. Although a specific cause could not be determined, the final report of the investigation board blamed the fire on electrical arcing. The fire was further fueled by the large quantity of flammable materials in the cabin and the oxygen-enriched atmosphere. <\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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For future missions, most flammable materials were replaced with self-extinguishing materials. Pure oxygen was replaced by a nitrogen-oxygen mixture at launch. Finally, the hatch was redesigned to open outward and to be able to be removed quickly. <\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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The three, Grissom, White and Chaffee, are all remembered at the Astronaut Memorial <\/A>located near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/o:p><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>\n

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