About the Apollo 1 Launch Pad Fire

“Three astronauts were killed in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire on Jan. 27, 1967.”

The term “launch pad fire” is true, but to me it is not very descriptive of what actually happened on that fatal NASA  preflight test,  that late afternoon at LC-34 (Launch Complex 34), Jan 27, 1967.  As the only photographer for NASA, at the time specifically assigned to LC-34, including my own desk inside the blockhouse, I was only moments away from a NASA assignment to stay on over-time to take motion picture documentation of that test in progress.  I was to be filming the three astronauts, (Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee), up on the service structure, at the Command Module.  At the last minute, I was told to scrub (cancel)  my Job Order (assignment,) because they couldn’t get enough light up there.  Hence, the test was not documented on film.

Here is a good description fully of what happened, from the National Geographic Encyclopedia of SPACE. Linda K. Glover with Andrew Chaikin, Patricia S. Daniels, Andrea Gianopoulos, and Jonathan T. Malay, FOREWORD BY Buzz Aldrin.

Apollo 1
On January 27, 1967, the crew intended for the first manned Apollo flight—veteran astronauts Gus Grissom and Ed White and rookie Roger Chaffee—took part in a prelaunch rehearsal for their two-week mission, which was slated for mid-February.  The three astronauts were sealed onside their command module, which was pressurized with pure oxygen at 1.125 kilograms a square centimeter, slightly above atmospheric pressure.  At about 6:30 p.m. EST, fire suddenly erupted inside Apollo 1.  Within 20 seconds it spread throughout the cabin, creating such intense pressure that the spacecraft’s hull ruptured.  Ground crews struggled to open the craft’s three-piece hatch.  By the time they succeeded, many minutes had passed, and the astronauts were dead: They had been asphyxiated by toxic gases when their air hoses burned through.  In the months that followed, NASA investigated the cause of the fire and redesigned the command module with fireproof materials and a new quick-opening hatch; high-pressure pure oxygen was no longer used during ground tests.

The Root of the Problem, –by Don Cole

Ref:   “Painting Islam with broad strokes is unfair”
   –a  DR Article by Bob Ingle,  POLITICS PATROL,  published Jan 27, 2011

      “There certainly are militant followers of Islam just like there are militant Jews and militant Christians, but to paint all members of a group with a broad brush is unfair and not what we stand for in this country.”

I see this thought reiterated over and over again, but no one ever seems to address the heart of the situation. We need to go to the root of the problem. The problem –that frightens people– is the violence, and the Sharia Law, that the Quran itself actually teaches. The Quran is not akin to the teachings of American principles and freedoms that we cherish, or to Christianity, Judaism, or other peaceful religions. Many try to justify violence in the Quran by equating it with violence in the Bible Old Testament. We need to study the Bible, and also the Quran, –and all the history thereof. I believe that if someone says that he or she is a Muslim, –then that means their true loyalty goes to their own holy book, as to what I read in the Quran, no matter how they might appear to be or act otherwise.

More food for thought:  Tell me, what is a “militant Jew or Christian” ?  What did Jesus teach?  Compare what Jesus teaches to the teachings of Muhammad.  What is the “armour of God” that Christians are to wear?  What are some logical tests of a true prophet of God?  Can a true prophet of God ever, much less often, be wrong, i.e. things in nature, or in predicting the future, or in things of science, or of accurate and true knowledge beyond the times  they were  written, or from that which  was beyond the common belief of the day that the author lived? 

Instead of burying our head in the sand, –we need to go to the SOURCE itself.  Ask ourselves, ‘What, or where, is
 the AUTHORITY that we base our belief?  Where did it come from, and where and when did it start?  And who started it?
  
  THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

2011, a ‘Payroll Holiday’ gratis Social Security. (??)

‘2011; –is a “Payroll Holiday” gratis Social Security.’

Well now, isn’t that just WONDERFUL!  (??) 
What on earth are they thinking? 
I thought we were trying to ‘fix Social Security’, –not destroy it.

Govt. Rate of Inflation Formulas; –How many are there?

Rate of Inflation Formulas; –How many are there?

The new upcoming Postal Rate Increases are being reported  as justified by a government “Rate of Inflation Formula.”  Just how many “Rate of Inflation Formulas” are there?  One formula for Social Security freezes, and another one  –an honest one– for everybody else?

Bundle Up!

Bundle Up!
 

                                                        FIRST PUBLISHED IN McCall’s Magazine, MARCH, 1989 ISSUE.

     

FIRST PUBLISHED IN McCall’s MAGAZINE, January, 1989 ISSUE, AS SHOWN.

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