Apollo One was a test mission to evaluate the capabilities of the newly developed Saturn rocket and command module. However, it ended tragically during a training exercise in 1967, resulting in the deaths of three astronauts. The cause of the fire was a pure oxygen environment, a spark in the wiring, and flammable items aboard. Changes were made to spacecraft for greater safety, which were instrumental in bringing the Apollo Thirteen crew home.
Apollo One was the name of the first planned Apollo/Saturn space mission which ended tragically during a training exercise on January 27, 1967. Apollo was the name given to the missions that followed the Mercury missions. These missions were an attempt to send manned spacecraft to land on the moon, although Apollo One was simply intended to be a test mission to evaluate the anticipated capabilities of the newly developed Saturn rocket and command module. Unfortunately, this first Apollo mission attempt was disastrous and resulted in the deaths of three beloved astronauts: Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee.
Apollo One was scheduled to launch in February 1967, and the three astronauts were simply participating in a test that would determine Apollo One’s ability to run on internal power, called the “plug out” test. A sudden fire in the cockpit quickly engulfed the command module in which Grissom, White and Chafee were sealed. The astronauts failed to open the hatch, which opened inward instead of outward, and were quickly killed by flames.
The cause of the fire in Apollo One was the result of several things. First, Apollo One was a pure oxygen environment, ignoring the flammable nature of oxygen. Second, a spark in the command module’s uninsulated wiring was enough to start an uncontrollable fire. There were also many flammable items aboard Apollo One, including Velcro, which quickly allowed the fire to spread. The fire spread so quickly and rapidly that the astronauts had no chance to escape.
The Apollo One disaster was daunting for many in the space program. What may be more daunting about it is the argument that it could have been prevented. In 1961, Russian cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko was killed in a similar accident. This was hidden from the public and especially from the US because of the “race” to get to the moon and because the Soviets didn’t want anyone to know about their failures. Some argue that if Soviet/American relations had been better, the United States might have been aware of the potential expiration of a pure oxygen environment like that of Apollo One.
Despite the loss of three brave men, Apollo One was used much as it was intended: to overhaul spacecraft from the Apollo missions for greater safety for the astronauts. Changes included blending oxygen with nitrogen, reducing flammable materials in the spacecraft, fixing over 1000 wiring issues, isolating plumbing and wiring, and redesigning the hatch door to open outward. NASA believes that some of these changes were instrumental in bringing the Apollo Thirteen crew home, despite significant mechanical problems. Had the same Apollo One module been used for the Apollo Thirteen mission, it almost certainly would have resulted in the deaths of that crew.
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