Fire on Board

                                                  January 27, 1967

    Shortly after we  went to bed, the music on our radio was interrupted with an announcement that a fire had occurred in the Apollo spacecraft on the launch pad and it was feared that three astronauts participating in the test had perished.  Of course, we were immediately wide awake and anxious to hear further details.  Since the manned portion of space flight was handled out of Houston, I was not sure who was participating in the test, but I had worked with several of the astronauts when they came to Huntsville to evaluate the rockets that they would be riding into space.  Subsequent news announcements confirmed the worst and we were told that Gus Grissom. Ed White, and Ron Chaffee had not survived the fire.  Of these men, I had only met Gus Grissom.  

The NASA family was quite large and geographically dispersed, but we were all working on a common goal to fulfill President Kennedy’s dream and challenge to put men safely on the Moon.  Therefore, we felt an intense personal connection to the event  There was also a secondary concern that this incident might have a negative effect on the space exploration effort and our employment.  I loved my work and it paid me well.  I could not imagine at that time doing anything else.  Members from my test team were selected to work on the  team that investigated the cause and devised ways to prevent similar incidents in the future.