The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: BlueStateSaint on July 20, 2017, 07:17:18 AM
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I was still a tad young to remember this (the first Apollo mission that I remember was 12), but these guys had a lot of courage.
Remembering Apollo 1 Scott Rasmussen Posted: Jul 20, 2017 12:01 AM
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong famously took "one small step for a man" and "one giant leap for mankind." He and Buzz Aldrin stepped into the history books that day as the living embodiment of an amazing technological achievement. We'll hear a lot more about that trip in the coming years as we approach the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing.
The story will be told of the U.S. responding to the Sputnik satellite and the fear that gripped many when Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the earth. Our nation caught up when John Glenn took three trips around the earth in Freedom 7. After that, stunning breakthroughs became routine until the Apollo 11 mission than finally put two men on the moon.
As the narrative unfolds, however, we're not likely to hear much about Apollo 1. And, it's a story that should be told as a reminder that great accomplishments come with great risks and a high cost.
On January 27, 1967, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee climbed into the Command Module for a launch rehearsal. Grissom was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts and had been into space on a pair of earlier missions. White had become the first American to walk in space on the Gemini 4 mission in 1965. Chaffee was looking forward to his first flight after years of training.
Tragically, a fire broke out in the Command Module on that day and there was no way to release the hatch from the inside. The three men suffered a horrific death and images of the charred Command Module shook the nation. All three men left behind a wife and young children.
I have heard that the escape hatch on the CM was designed in such a way that it would take 90 seconds to open. They were unconscious, probably, long before that.
The rest of this is here: https://townhall.com/columnists/scottrasmussen/2017/07/20/remembering-apollo-1-n2357242
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