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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0225.PDF
International, 9 February 1967 219 1 AFTERMATH Lsphyxiation due to smoke inhalation due to the fire" caused ie death of the three Apollo 1 astronauts—Virgil Grissom,dward White and Roger Chaffee—according to a preliminary by the NASA review board set up to investigate the January 27 spacecraft fire at Cape Kennedy. The report was feleased on February 4. Robert C. Seamans, Deputy Administrator of NASA, Ljd that the board had no idea as to the cause of the fire. finding the cause, he stated in the report, "is a complex task anding the complete attention of the review board" as as the "many elements of Government, industry and uni- fersities involved in the Apollo programme." iyhe fire occurred at 6.30 p.m. local time (11.30 p.m. GMT). Recording to the report, Chaffee reported fire in the space- aft at 06.31.03, White also reported fire at 06.31.09, and haffee reported "bad fire" at 06.31.12. "No other intelligible jonununications were received," the report stated, "although ne listeners believe there was one sharp cry of pain. Loss of dio signals occurred a few seconds later." At 06.31.17 internal •essure in the spacecraft reached about 291b/sq in and the hpsule burst. I On January 31 Lt Col Grissom and Lt Cdr Chaffee were niried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia; and Lt Col hite was buried at West Point Military Academy. [ On the same day two US airmen were killed following a ! in a high-altitude chamber at the USAF School of Aero- ace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. he atmosphere in the chamber was 100 per cent oxygen and 1 spokesman at the school said that the fire was apparently similar to that in the Apollo 1 spacecraft at Cape Ken- y. The men were stated to have been carrying out routine aintenance in the chamber, monitoring tests on 16 rabbits. j On February 1 a spokesman at San Antonio said that all [JSAF experiments involving dangerous concentrations of ygen had been suspended until completion of a report on : Brooks accident. NASA has also suspended such tests, and i postponed the three manned flights proposed for this year. The text of the memorandum by Dr Robert C. Seamans, Jr, leputy Administrator of NASA, appointing members of the ccident review board and describing its responsibilities, is as )llows: — lemorandum for the Apollo 204 Review Board The Apollo 204 Review Board is hereby established in ccordance with NASA Management Instruction 8621.1, dated pril 14, 1966, to investigate the Apollo 204 accident which suited in the deaths of Lt Col Virgil I. Grissom, Lt Col ilward H. White II and Lt Cdr Roger B. Chaffee on Launch omplex 34 on January 27, 1967. The Board will report to the Administrator of the National eronautics and Space Administration. The following are hereby appointed to the Board: Dr Floyd L. Thompson, director, Langley Research Centre, 'ASA, chairman; Lt Col Frank Borman, astronaut, Manned pacecraft Centre, NASA; Maxime Faget, director, engineer- ig and development, Manned Spacecraft Centre, NASA; E. arton Geer, associate chief, flight vehicles and systems divi- on, Langley Research Centre, NASA; George Jeffs, chief igjneer, Apollo, North American Aviation Inc. Frank A. Long, PSAC member, vice-president for re- arch and advanced studies, Cornell University; Col Charles Strang, chief of missiles and space safety division, Air orce Inspector General, Horton Air Force Base, California; C. White, Jr, director, reliability and quality, Apollo fogramme office, Headquarters, NASA; John Williams, direc-Ir . spacecraft operations, Kennedy Space Centre, NASA. George Mallay, chief counsel, Langley Research Centre, i'l serve as counsel to the Board. The Board will: (a) Review the circumstances surrounding the accident to establish the probable cause or causes of the accident, including review of the findings, corrective action, and recommendations being developed by the programme offices, field centres, and contractors involved. ft) Direct such further specific investigations as may be necessary. (c) Report its findings relating to the cause of the accident to the Administrator as expeditiously as possible and release such information through the Office of Public Affairs. (d) Consider the impact of the accident on all Apollo activities involving equipment preparations, testing, and flight operations. (e) Consider all other factors relating to the accident, in- cluding design, procedures, organisation, and manage- ment. (f) Develop recommendations for corrective or other action based upon its findings and determinations. (g) Document its findings, determinations, and recom- mendations and submit a final report to the Adminis- trator which will not be released without his approval. 6. The Board may call upon any element of NASA for sup- port, assistance and information. MESH WINS ESRO CONTRACT The European Space Research Organisation has awarded the contract for its two Thor-Delta satellites, TD-1 and TD-2, to the MESH international consortium. This group comprises Engins Matra (France), ERNO (West Germany), Saab (Sweden) and Hawker Siddeley Dynamics (United Kingdom), with tech- nical assistance from TRW Inc of the USA. The Thor-Delta satellite contract is the largest European spacecraft order yet placed, and is worth approximately £8 million. In this project Engins Matra is acting as prime con- tractor on behalf of MESH. Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and Matra have already collaborated in the development of the ESRO-2 satellite, scheduled to be launched by Stout from the Western Test Range, California, next month. The two TD satellites will each weigh approximately 400kg. TD-1 will study the spectrum of stars, and in particular the ultra-violet and infra-red regions, while TD-1 will study the effect of solar activity on the upper atmosphere. ELDO-PAS GUIDANCE TEAM Elliott-Automation announced last week that the company has been appointed by the European Launcher Development Organisation as prime contractor for the development of the inertial guidance system for the Europa 1 (ELDO-A) satellite launch vehicle. Although not specifically stated by the com- pany, this system clearly will also be applied to the ELDO- PAS operational development of the ELDO-A launcher. The The United Nations space treaty ("Flight," December 22) was signed in London on January 27 by (left to right) Mr Mikhail Smirnovsky; Soviet Ambassador; Mr George Brown, British Foreign Secretary and Mr Philip Kaiser, United States Minister in London. Similar ceremonies were held in Moscow and Washington
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