Episode 030 - The Apollo One Disaster (1967)
About this episode
This episode recounts the tragic Apollo One Disaster and its implications for the space program.
Rainbow Valley - The Sixties Podcast. Telling the stories from the decade that shook the world. The Apollo One Disaster January 27 th 1967, US astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed Whit e and Roger Chaffee way made their way into a brand new spacecraft perched atop a large powerful Saturn Five rocket at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. A routine dress rehearsal, and one of many, for their approaching launch into orbit less than a month away. All three astronauts were experienced pilots, all harbouring dreams of one day setting foot on the moon. But little did they know, nor did anyone else, that once they entered the spacecraft that chilly winters day, they would never leave it alive. The Apollo programme would be dangerously close to cancellation before it even got off the ground. The Apollo spacecraft was condemned from the start, comprising of miles of uninsulated wiring, tons of flammable materials confined in an atmosphere consisting of pure oxygen, and a hatch that wouldn't open. Public opinion was already turning against the space race, and the events of that January evening did nothing to boost their confidence in the programme. It is a story not only of how America continued to…
More episodes of Rainbow Valley
- Episode 037 - The Great Escape From Alcatraz (1962)
- Episode 036 - Spend Spend Spend – The Rise and Fall of Viv Nicholson (1961)
- Episode 035 - Chappaquiddick Part Two (1969)
- Episode 034 - Chappaquiddick Part One (1969)
- Episode 033 - Goldie And His Bid For Freedom (1965)
- Episode 032 - Tere Jo Dupperault - Orphan of the Sea (1961)
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