On January 27th 1967, the crew of Apollo 1 were burned to death in their command capsule during a launch pad simulation. A spark ignited the spacecraft's 20psi pure oxygen atmosphere, and the hatch could only be opened from the outside. The day after the nineteenth anniversary of the fire, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during the launch of its STS-51-L mission. The cause of the disaster was attributed to cold weather freezing the o-rings in the solid rocket booster, which caused the booster to leak burning fuel and blow up the external tank. All seven astronauts were killed. Then on February 1st 2003, another seven astronauts were killed during the reentry of what had been an otherwise successful mission. This time foam had fallen from the external tank during launch and breached one of the thermal protection tiles. This breach caused hot plasma encountered on reentry to get inside and rip the spacecraft apart.
This video is made in honor of all seventeen astronauts. Though this song was specifically chosen for Apollo 1 Senior Pilot, Edward White.
During the Mercury days, astronauts were given the privilege of naming their spacecrafts. Freedom 7, Liberty Bell 7, Friendship 7, etc. When it came to the Gemini program, Virgil "Gus" Grissom wanted to name his Gemini 3 capsule "The Molly Brown". An obvious nod to his previous mission, as if to say "Let's hope this capsule is unsinkable, unlike my old Liberty Bell 7!" NASA forbid Grissom from officially calling it that. But all that went out the window when Capcom Gordon Cooper radioed in to say "You're on your way, Molly Brown!"
Subsequently, NASA sent a memo that no longer would astronauts be allowed to name their capsules. They would simply be Gemini 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. This was a massive disappointment to Jim McDivitt and Edward White, who both wanted to name their Gemini 4 capsule "American Eagle".
And so I chose Bette Midler's 'The Wind Beneath My Wings' for this video. White didn't get to name his Gemini, but he and his fellow fallen astronauts all flew higher than any eagle. Yes, even Roger Chaffee. He never made his first spaceflight, but he flew the U-2 on high altitude reconnaissance flights during the Cuba Missile Crisis.
RIP
THE CREW OF APOLLO 1
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom
Edward H. White Jnr.
Roger B. Chaffee
THE CREW OF STS-51-L CHALLENGER
Francis "Dick" Scobee
Michael J. Smith
Ellison S. Onizuka
Judith A. Resnik
Ronald E. McNair
Sharon Christa McAuliffe
Gregory B. Jarvis
THE CREW OF STS-107 COLUMBIA
Rick D. Husband
William C. "Willie" McCool
David M. Brown
Kalpana "K.C." Chawla
Michael P. Anderson
Laural B. Clark
Ilan Ramon
The Wind Beneath The Astronauts' Wings: Apollo 1, STS-51-L Challenger & STS-107 Columbia Tribute jw marriott la live | |
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| People & Blogs | Upload TimePublished on 27 Jan 2011 |
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