On January 27th, 1967 at 6:31 PM, EST at pad 34 at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, an Apollo spacecraft with Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee aboard caught fire. All three Astronauts died. It is believed that all three succumbed to the poisonous fumes generated by the fire long before the fire could actually claim them. Although two unmanned Apollo tests had occurred previously, the craft that claimed the lives of the three Astronauts will forever be remembered as Apollo 1. I still remember the special reports as the media announced the tragedy. My best friend and I were both space nuts at that time and we followed the space program closely. While in Florida, I visited Pad 34, now a historical site. The pad will never be reused for launches. The photo above shows the concrete launch pad for the Saturn 1B rocket. The metal gantry has long since been removed. To three of my childhood heroes - Rest in Peace.
On January 27th, 1967 at 6:31 PM, EST at pad 34 at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, an Apollo spacecraft with Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee aboard caught fire. All three Astronauts died. It is believed that all three succumbed to the poisonous fumes generated by the fire long before the fire could actually claim them. Although two unmanned Apollo tests had occurred previously, the craft that claimed the lives of the three Astronauts will forever be remembered as Apollo 1. I still remember the special reports as the media announced the tragedy. My best friend and I were both space nuts at that time and we followed the space program closely. While in Florida, I visited Pad 34, now a historical site. The pad will never be reused for launches. The photo above shows the concrete launch pad for the Saturn 1B rocket. The metal gantry has long since been removed. To three of my childhood heroes - Rest in Peace.
By Tom, Sunday, 12 March , 2006 @ 9:41 am
Were you able to visit the Challenger launch pad? I understand that it too has been turned into a memorial.
By Gaius Arbo, Sunday, 12 March , 2006 @ 2:46 pm
Actually, the two pads used for shuttle launches are 39A and B - They also launched all of the Saturn V rockets. But both 39 A and B are still active and are used for the shuttles.
There is an old silo at one of the old pads that the Challenger remains are sealed into. (The parts of the shuttle itself, of course). That is permanently sealed. We did see that, but no pictures - it was just a low dome way off in the distance, we never got up close to it. The old silo was used to test the Atlas system, I believe.
There is a nice monument to all the Astronauts lost since the program began, including ones who never flew in space but were killed in plane crashes.