Washington Goes to the Moon: The Day That Changed Everything |
Americans have no trouble recalling where they were when the Challenger exploded. But outside the
aerospace community, you'd be hard-pressed to find people who remember the fire on-board Apollo
One which killed three astronauts. Nevertheless, the loss, the tragedy and the impact of that fire were as
bad, if not worse, than Challenger: the Apollo One fire called into question the most fundamental
aspects of NASA's management structure. In this program, NASA, upon experiencing its worst
catastrophe ever, attempts to respond to the Apollo One fire just like every other accident they'd ever
had. Those efforts are thrown into turmoil when frightening information about the company that built
the Apollo One capsule is leaked to a Member of Congress.
The Day the Changed Everything was produced by Richard Paul. NASA DID make it to the moon, of course, and we've got that story too -- check your station's listings for it, or visit us online at Soundprint-dot-org, where we have the program archived. Research assistance for this program came from David Aungst. The Congressional Testimony was portrayed by actors Porter Koontz, Andy Clements, James White, and Bonnie Gant. This program is part of our series Exploring Space Science, produced with support form WAMU FM, WABE FM, the Morehouse School of Medicine, the National Science Foundation, and NASA.
Links:
Apollo 1
ENGINEERING.com describes the mechanical problems that went wrong with Apollo 1 and recommendation on how to avoid that disaster again
NASA Apollo Mission - Apollo 1
NASA's account of the disaster.
Books:
The Man Who Ran the Moon: James E. Webb, NASA, and the Secret History of Project Apollo by: Piers Bizony 2006 The story of James E. Webb who helped take control of America’s Apollo moon project, despite the Apollo One disaster and Congressional investigations is still one of the great innovators of NASA.
Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest by: Gerard J. DeGroot 2006 Gerard J. DeGroot explorers his view that NASA cashed in on the Americans' thirst for heroes in an age of discontent and became obsessed with putting men in space and that so much effort and expense was devoted to a small step that did virtually nothing for mankind.
Apollo: The Definitive SourceBook by: Richard W. Orloff, David Harland, Max Wisshak 2006 A book of all the available information of thew Apollo missions. Importantly, it refers to original documentation, resolving problems caused by reported differences in measures, typographical errors and so on.
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