National Air and Space Museum Archives

Apollo 1 (AS-204) Fire Collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2017.0029
Creators:
Needell, Allan A.
Dates:
bulk 1960-2002
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1 Cubic foot
1 box
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of a cubic feet of copies of material gathered by Allan Needell on the Apollo 1 fire. Material was gathered from magazines, reports, memorandums, letters, and the Congressional Record. There is also a folder of photographs taken on October 26, 1998, of the opening and inspection of the Apollo 204 Capsule container at the NASA Langley Research Center.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
On January 27, 1967, a fire broke out at 18:31 EST, in the cockpit of Apollo Command Module 012 while the "Block I" (Earth orbit capable) spacecraft sat atop an unfueled Saturn 1B rocket on launch pad 34 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The system was undergoing a manned test in preparation for the scheduled Apollo 204 mission (now universally referred to as Apollo 1), the first scheduled manned orbital test of an Apollo Block I spacecraft. The three astronauts aboard, Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee, were killed by asphyxiation. In addition to the heartrending loss of life, the tragedy threatened to derail the United States' ambitious program to meet President John F. Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Allan Needell / Space History, Transfer, 2017

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
Apollo 1 (AS-204) Fire Collection, Accession 2017-0029 , National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Manned space flight Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Apollo Project Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Astronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Apollo 1 Mission Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
White, Edward Higgins, 1930-1967 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Grissom, Virgil I. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chaffee, Roger B. (Commander) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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