Friday, January 27, 2012

45 Years Ago Today Apollo One

President Johnson was informed of the Apollo 1 tragedy during a White House party. He read this memo to his stunned guests:



Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members – Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee – and destroyed the Command Module. The mission name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24, 1967

More about the Apollo One tragedy here.

Cedar's Take: Just a reminder that Americans never give up!

Hat Tip to @WestWingReport

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reminder CP, amazing how our media today would rather talk about poor Demi Moore's trip to the hospital than remember something like this!

Anonymous said...

Good stuff Cedar. Thanks.