# RIP Apollo 1 - 45 Years Ago Today **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953 "2012-01-28T04:52:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/1 "2012-01-28T04:52:25Z")
[http://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/](http://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/) > [@](#): > > On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/2 "2012-01-28T04:58:54Z")
RIP ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/3 "2012-01-28T05:07:31Z")
You know something amazing? Last night (actually the early morning) I had a vivid nightmare that I saw a rocket - the long, thin Saturn type rocket that they used in the Apollo program - slowly crashing down to the ground and bursting into flames. It was exaggeratedly and unrealistically enormous on the horizon, and as it burned, I cried out, in tears, for the astronauts, who I knew couldn’t have survived. I swear to God, I really dreamed this. And I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA that it was the anniversary of this disaster until I saw this thread. I swear to God. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/4 "2012-01-28T05:13:14Z")
One day I’ll make it down to Launch Complex 34. I know that there’s not much to see, but it’s the principle that matters. At least their sacrifice made a difference. The failure of Apollo 1 led directly to the survival of the Apollo 13 astronauts and the overall success of the Apollo program. ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/5 "2012-01-28T05:54:17Z")
I was eight years old when we landed on the moon and nothing has been anywhere near as amazing since. We were up there. On the goldamn moon. Can you imagine the balls the next guys had after these fellows burned to death to sit atop a mountain of fuel? These men were badasses for science. Damn heroes for real and nothing has topped it since. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/6 "2012-01-28T14:50:59Z")
I remember this vividly–my father worked for the space program, so we followed all the launches. Gus Grissom had been my “favorite” astronaut, for no reason I can even vaguely remember (except maybe I liked the name “Gus”). ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/7 "2012-01-28T16:00:27Z")
[slight hijack] 26 years ago today the [Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster) [/slight hijack] I was only 5 at the time of Apollo 1 and don’t remember anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/8 "2012-01-28T16:15:47Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > One day I’ll make it down to Launch Complex 34. I know that there’s not much to see, but it’s the principle that matters. Not sure what the logistics are on visiting that site at the Cape. I’ve been to Grissom’s and Chaffee’s graves at Arlington. I had to ask where they were; the location is not on the regular visitor’s map. (Just checked the website; not there either.) They’re next to each other, in an older section of the cemetery, south of the Tomb of the Unknowns. Someone had been there recently and left flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/9 "2012-01-28T18:49:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Not sure what the logistics are on visiting that site at the Cape. Aroud 2000 or so I took the ‘Then and Now’ of the older sections of the Kennedy Space Center. We got to go into the Mercury launch control center (which looked incredibly primitive by today’s standards, but I guess was state of the art back in the day). We also stopped at the site of the Apollo 1 fire. There really wasn’t much to see, but it was moving just being there. > [@](#): > > I’ve been to Grissom’s and Chaffee’s graves at Arlington. I had to ask where they were; the location is not on the regular visitor’s map. (Just checked the website; not there either.) They’re next to each other, in an older section of the cemetery, south of the Tomb of the Unknowns. Someone had been there recently and left flowers. I haven’t been there, but hope to eventually. FWIW, White’s buried in the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/10 "2012-01-28T23:45:04Z")
Those men were heros, no two ways about it. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/11 "2012-01-29T01:32:50Z")
Four days from now (Feb. 1st) is the anniversary of the destruction of the Columbia space shuttle. If you get tapped for a space mission, it’s best to schedule your vacation during the last week of January so that you won’t be available that week. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/12 "2012-01-30T18:54:35Z")
> [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > We also stopped at the site of the Apollo 1 fire. There really wasn’t much to see, but it was moving just being there. The site is very quiet and kind of lonely, as this launch site is a ways away from the rest of the complex. The launch gantry is still there of course (or was ten years ago assuming nothing has changed), and there is a plaque attached to the lower section commemorating the Apollo 1 astronauts. It is indeed moving to be there. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/13 "2012-01-30T19:46:25Z")
I was looking for information on the Apollo 1 fire and I saw a link to an audio file of the conversation between the astronauts and the tower during the fire. I clicked on it thinking that it wasn’t real. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-apollo-1-45-years-ago-today/610953/14 "2012-01-30T19:55:59Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The failure of Apollo 1 led directly to the survival of the Apollo 13 astronauts and the overall success of the Apollo program. I recall changes in the atmosphere in tests, the removal of some materials and quicker access to the hatch. Were there particular changes that led to the survival of Apollo 13? And yes, of course they were heroes. Was Ed White in the X-15 program?