美国国家公共电台 NPR 50 Years Later, NASA Creates Tribute To 3 Astronauts Who Died In Space Race

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Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of a tragic 1 moment for America's space program - the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts. The fire erupted on the launch pad during a routine test. The accident shocked NASA just as the agency was ramping 2 up to meet President John F. Kennedy's challenge of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Brendan Byrne of member station WMFE looks at how lessons from the Apollo 1 tragedy paved the way for successful trips to the moon.

BRENDAN BYRNE, BYLINE 3: The test was a dress rehearsal 4 for the Apollo 1 crew - Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. The ultimate goal was to check out the command module 5, NASA's first three-manned spacecraft that would take astronauts to the moon. The crew was rehearsing the real launch about a month away. They were suited up and in the capsule running through checklists and testing equipment, but something sparked the oxygen-rich environment. Within seconds, the capsule filled with flames, smoke and toxic 6 gases. NASA engineer John Tribe was working in the control room when it happened.

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JOHN TRIBE: It was incomprehensible to us how on earth we could have a fire in the cockpit.

BYRNE: The astronauts were killed almost instantly, and the entire incident lasted less than five minutes.

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TRIBE: We had imagined the worst. We'd hoped for the best. It was not to be. We'd lost three of our team.

BYRNE: The accident halted the Apollo program as NASA scrambled 7 to figure out what went wrong. Reporter George Alexander was 1 of only 3 journalists allowed to visit the capsule after the fire.

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GEORGE ALEXANDER: What burned? I'd have to say just about everything that was in there, except for these few odd bits and pieces, like a page which had only its edges - a page about this size - it had only its edges slightly browned - and this bit of parachute harness, but everything else burned in there.

BYRNE: The capsule was pressurized with a hundred percent oxygen. In that environment, something not considered a fire hazard was extremely combustible 8. The hatch of the capsule opened inward, making it difficult for the crew to open it. After the accident, there were hundreds of significant changes to the capsule and safety procedures. The redesigned capsule would use a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, reducing the fire risk, and a new hatch was designed that could be opened in just five seconds.

Only 21 months later, NASA sent humans back into space aboard Apollo 7. And less than a year after that, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed Apollo 11 on the moon. Astronaut Michael Collins was also on that mission. He says if the fire on Apollo 1 hadn't happened, it's likely a similar action would have occurred in space, and that could have led to the program's cancellation 9.

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MICHAEL COLLINS: Without it, very likely we would have not landed on the moon, as president had wished, by the end of the decade.

BYRNE: The successes of the Apollo lunar program overshadowed the loss of the crew. For 50 years, NASA kept the Apollo 1 command module locked up until now. Beginning tomorrow, the hatch from the burned capsule will be put on public display as a tribute to the sacrifices of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. For NPR News, I'm Brendan Byrne at the Kennedy Space Center.