MITCHELL – Virgil I. Grissom Inc. will mark the 56th anniversary of the Apollo One disaster and the death of Virgil I. “Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White with an observance on Friday, Jan. 27.
NASA’s last moon-bound program for astronauts lifted off under the shadow of a fatal incident on the Apollo 1 spacecraft, 56 years ago on Jan. 27, 1967.
Apollo 1 was expected to fly to Earth orbit later in 1967 with astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White on board. During a test on the launch pad, however, a fire erupted and rapidly asphyxiated all three astronauts.
Some of the contributing factors to their deaths included a pure oxygen atmosphere that accelerated a fire and a hatch that proved impossible for the astronauts to open quickly, although the causes were complex.
The cause of the fire was never fully determined, although NASA and its contractors took numerous measures to fix the technical and cultural problems associated with the incident. Their efforts allowed Apollo to fly astronauts into space 18 months later and to, for most of the program’s missions, achieve success.
The Virgil I. Grissom Boyhood home will open at 6 p.m. and a short program will begin at approximately 6:15 p.m. leading up to the time of the disaster.
A moment of silence will close the program.
