During the first nine years of my life, my dad was a research scientist at Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, OK. His work occasionally took him to the space center in Houston, TX. I used to have 8 X 10 glossy photos of the original astronauts. My first real memories of the space program began with the Apollo 7 flight in late 1968. I used to be able to recite from memory each of the manned space flights, what year they occurred, and the significant events of each mission.
Forty years ago today was the American space program's first genuine space disaster. The Apollo 1 capsule burst into flames while sitting on the pad with its crew of three astronauts inside running tests. I don't personally remember the event, but as my interest in space exploration developed, I saw Grissom, White, and Chaffee as heroes. I still do.
Leave a Reply