The Apollo 1 fire, which killed three astronauts more than 53 years ago, marked a black day at NASA. However, it also meant the improvement of their spaceships, as they had to learn from the great mistakes they made. Thus, on January 27, 1967, Edward White, Roger Chaffee and Virgil Ivan Grissom, the first crew of the Apollo Program, died.
The astronauts were inside the spacecraft for a dress rehearsal before launch, as they planned to take the Apollo capsule into Earth orbit to test the spacecraft during lunar flights. It was only going to be a ground test and it was not a great risk. However, an electrical spark caused a fire , and flames and smoke ripped through the capsule. Unfortunately, the crew was unable to escape.
A subsequent investigation determined that the large amount of flammable materials as well as the pure oxygen environment within the capsule were partly to blame, although they could not pinpoint the exact point where the fire started. In the 53 years since then, spacecraft engineers and builders have worked for the safety of astronauts, learning from the mistakes of the past.
Modifications to spaceships
The fact that the fire happened on earth and not in space made a big difference, as they were able to study the evidence and analyze what had happened on the spacecraft. Thus, they discovered that the 100% oxygen environment in the capsule caused the fire to break out rapidly. For this reason, NASA redesigned Apollo to fly with 34% oxygen in its pressurized modules.
Also, the engineers carried out many adaptations, modifying the walls of the ship to be thicker and better withstand the increase in pressure. They also reduced the amount of flammable material in the crew cabin and checked the flammability of many materials in the capsule.
As a result of the lessons learned, NASA has developed new materials with fire safety in mind. For example, the insulation around cables is made with a special coating so fire resistant that it cannot burn even in a pure oxygen environment.
