50th Anniversary of the Apollo 1 Rocket Fire

[chris3bs]

I don't know if anyone posted but I remember that day 50 years ago.. I was watching on TV this catatsrophic event. I was a space nerd during my younger days more so than now. How awful to be burned in an oxygenated environment and to recover them. It is intense as it gets. I will always remember. RIP to those 3 brave men.

 

Chris

[Lee Ragan]

I remember it well. I was a young Airman in the USAF at the time. The whole country was shocked by this event. RIP Sirs.

[sundance]

May they rest in peace. It's amazing that the US still landed men on he moon within Kennedy's decade in spite of the tragedy.

[BEAST]

Thank you for remembering these men. Gus Grissom was a Hoosier and several years ago, the Indianapolis Children's Museum had on temporary display the Liberty Bell 7, the space capsule used by Grissom during his Mercury launch. It was the only capsule not successfully recovered upon splashdown. It was recovered in 1999 and a few personal relics were recovered with it, including mercury dimes and a dollar bill Grissom and tucked away.

 

 

 

[Longbranch]

Thank you for remembering these men. Gus Grissom was a Hoosier and several years ago, the Indianapolis Children's Museum had on temporary display the Liberty Bell 7, the space capsule used by Grissom during his Mercury launch. It was the only capsule not successfully recovered upon splashdown. It was recovered in 1999 and a few personal relics were recovered with it, including mercury dimes and a dollar bill Grissom and tucked away.

 

GRISSOM CAPSULE.JPG

GRISSOM CAPSULE3.JPG

GRISSOM DIME.JPG

 

 

 

He also left behind his Randall knife when the capsule sank. The Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson has Liberty Bell 7 on display, along with many of it's contents including the knife. If I remember correctly, the display indicates that Grissom briefly considered taking a moment to retrieve the knife since they were valued keepsakes for the Mercury astronauts, but he wisely chose to get out of the capsule before he joined it on a trip to the bottom of the ocean.

[BEAST]

 

He also left behind his Randall knife when the capsule sank. The Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson has Liberty Bell 7 on display, along with many of it's contents including the knife. If I remember correctly, the display indicates that Grissom briefly considered taking a moment to retrieve the knife since they were valued keepsakes for the Mercury astronauts, but he wisely chose to get out of the capsule before he joined it on a trip to the bottom of the ocean.

 

Longbranch, your absolutely correct, they did recover his knife. Unfortunately, when it was displayed in Indy, it was not well lighted and I couldn't get a good photo of it. By the way, it looks like it is back on display in Indy this month. https://www.childrensmuseum.org/visit/calendar/view/flight-of-the-liberty-bell-7

[Jennings Lane]

I was six years old when Grissom, White and Chaffee died. Their televised funeral was the first national news event that I remember. Brave men.

 

The pinback button pictured is from the Gemini mission.

[Longbranch]

 

Longbranch, your absolutely correct, they did recover his knife. Unfortunately, when it was displayed in Indy, it was not well lighted and I couldn't get a good photo of it. By the way, it looks like it is back on display in Indy this month. https://www.childrensmuseum.org/visit/calendar/view/flight-of-the-liberty-bell-7

 

Interesting. Looks like the Cosmosphere loaned out the Liberty Bell 7 to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis until 2019. It's cool that it'll be in a FAR larger city to be seen by more people than likely ever visit middle-of-nowhere Kansas. The Cosmosphere has a ton of great stuff to see, far more than you'd expect for any museum in central Kansas.