It was also determined the capsule door design made rescue difficult. And that crew escape had not been adequately considered. Announcer this is a cbs news special report. Mike wallace this is mike wallace at the cbs newsroom in new york. Americas first three apollo astronauts were trapped and killed by a flash fire early tonight during a launchpad test at cape kennedy in florida. Virgil gus griffin, 40 years old, one of the original mercury astronaut. The First American astronaut to go twice into space. Edward white, 36 years old. The First American to walk in space. And rookie astronaut roger chaffee, 31 years old, training for his first spaceflight apollo one scheduled february 21. These three astronauts were aboard for 10 minutes before off imulated lift for a simulated lift off when the fire hit at about 6 30 tonight. They were inside the spaceship, pressurized, buttoned up inside their spacesuits with a fire hit. A closed Circuit Television camera with relaying pictures of the as
An investigation later etermined that the astronauts died in seconds from asphyxiation and that the fire spread trical and rapidly due to excessive come pure le material and the oxygen environment inside the cabin. Design also made rescue that crew ult and escape had not been adequately considered cbs news special report. This is mike wallace at the new york. Om in low cas first three apoll astronauts were trapped and launch pad test florida. Kennedy inat cape kenn chaffee roger that was a flash and it. The screen went blank, and he communication no from the astronauts. They died silently and apparently swiftly. Bodies have been left in he spacecraft according to the latest information from the cape pending an investigation into disaster. President johnson tonight mourned the death of the three astronauts saying they gave in the service of the nation. Our brave men in uniform weather seeking the frontiers of the future mourn loss ll of us the tragic of three gallant and dedicated airme
The apollo 13 mission. This hour long interview was part of the oral history project. Oral history [ inaudible ] date is march 12, 1999. You cut your teeth in Mission Control as a Flight Controller responsible for spacecraft guidance and navigation. How did you manage to get in on the ground floor of a program like this . And what was your secret . It was not easy. I had actually tried to go to work for nasa in 1962 and the guy that interviewed me was gene kranz. Kranz and i couldnt get together on money so i said to heck with you and i went off and did something else. I went to General Dynamics in fort worth. But i knew i wanted to get there so bad. Finally two years later in 1964 i took a pay cut and went to work for kranz, with melbrooks and started out as a Flight Controller. The reason that i did, agina was what we were going to join up gemny with. I worked at the Satellite Test Center in california right after i got out of the air force in 1960. We flew those early flights from v
Engines beginning throttling down. 94 . Normal throttle for most of the flight, 104 . Will throttle down to 65 shortly. Engines at 65 . Three engines running normally, three good fuel cells. 2257 feet per seconds. Three nautical miles. Engines throttling up. Three engines at 104 . Challenger, go with throttle up. One minute 15 seconds. Altitude nine nautical miles. Flight control looking carefully at the situation. Obviously, a major malfunction. We have no down link. We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded. Director confirms that. We are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point. Ladies and gentlemen, i had planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the union. The events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and i are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people
Civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here. Our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that i wish i could talk to every man and woman who works for nasa or who worked on this mission and tell them, your dedication and professionalism has moved and impressed us for decades and we know of your anguish. We share it. Theres a coincidence today. On this day, 390 years ago, the great explorer sir Francis Drake died aboard a ship off the coast of panama. In his lifetime, the great frontiers were the oceans and the historians later said, he lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it. Well, today, we can say of the challenger crew, their dedication was like drakes complete. The crew of the Space Shuttle challenger honored us in the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth, to touch the face of god. Thank you.