Oct 08

Space Rocket History #132 – Apollo 1: Astronauts – Part 2 – Chaffee

“On my honor I will do my best, To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times;  To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” The Boy Scout Oath.

Chaffee in Mission Control for Gemini 3

Chaffee in Mission Control for Gemini 3

Chaffee with Apollo 1 Model

Chaffee with Apollo 1 Model

Apollo 1 Mission Patch

Apollo 1 Mission Patch

Oct 01

Space Rocket History #131 – Apollo 1: Astronauts – Part 1- Grissom & White

“So the reason I took those symbols was that I think this was the most important thing I had going for me, and I felt that while I couldn’t take one for every religion in the country, I could take the three I was most familiar with.”  Ed. White

Apollo 1 Crew Sketch

Apollo 1 Crew Sketch

Apollo 1 Crew

Apollo 1 Crew

Chaffee, White, and Grissom

Chaffee, White, and Grissom

Sep 24

Space Rocket History an Encore Presentation of Episode #27 – Mercury-Redstone 4 – Liberty Bell 7 with Gus Grissom

Mercury-Redstone 4 was the fourth mission in the Mercury-Redstone series and the second U.S. manned suborbital spaceflight. The mission was essentially a repeat of Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 flight.   So why was it necessary to launch another sub-orbital mission?  Why not proceed with an orbital flight to match the Soviet Vostok 1?  Among other things the U.S. needed more space experience to corroborate the “Man-in-Space” concept.  Also the Redstone was the only booster NASA had that was approved for manned launches.  The Atlas booster was available but not ready.  Atlas was capable of putting a Mercury Capsule into orbit, but it had been launched three times with unmanned capsules, and it had exploded on 2 of the 3 attempts.

MR-4 Launch

MR-4 Launch

Gus Grissom

Gus Grissom

1137px-Grissom_prepares_to_enter_Liberty_Bell_7_61-MR4-76

Ready to Go

MR-4 Hatch

MR-4 Hatch

513px-Grissom_lifted_from_water_61-MR4-82

Rescue

Liberty Bell 7

Liberty Bell 7

Sep 17

Space Rocket History #130 – Apollo 1: Preparation

While flight-preparation crews were having problems, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were finding bottlenecks in training activities. The chief problem was keeping the Apollo mission simulator current with changes being made in spacecraft 012.

Command and Service Modules 012 at North American

Command and Service Modules 012 at North American

Apollo 1 Arrives at the Cape

Apollo 1 Arrives at the Cape

Grissom, Chaffee, & White check the communications headgear

Grissom, Chaffee, & White check the communications headgear