posted 02-17-2007 05:38 PM               

NASA moves Apollo 1 capsule to storage facility

NASA moved the Apollo 1 capsule and related materials about 90 feet to a newer, environmentally-controlled warehouse at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., on Saturday, Feb. 17. The move provides better protection for the spacecraft.

Despite routine repairs made throughout the years, the original secure storage container where the vehicle was housed has been deteriorating. NASA officials determined that, due to its age, the container could not be maintained effectively to preserve the capsule.

Astronauts Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, Lt. Col. Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee died when a flash fire swept through the spacecraft during a launch pad test at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 27, 1967. Originally known as the AS-204 mission, it was renamed Apollo 1 in honor of the crew.

As directed by the Apollo 204 Review Board, the capsule has been maintained at Langley. The review board's accident report made recommendations that led to design and engineering changes and increased the overall safety for future Apollo missions and six successful lunar landings.

posted 02-17-2007 10:04 PM               

Langley Storage facility which housed remains of Apollo 1 spacecraft.

Some of the 81 cartons of related hardware and investigative data that occupied the 3,330 cubic feet of storage space.

The Apollo 1 command module as seen in storage at Langley Research Center in Virginia.

posted 02-18-2007 09:13 AM               

[Langley spokesman Chris] Rink said the capsule was partly disassembled during the fire investigation in 1967, so two large pieces needed to be moved on Saturday - an inner shell and the outer shell that most people recognize as the capsule. Both pieces were lifted by crane onto a flatbed truck for transport to the new building. Some boxes also were moved, he said.

Workers had a safety briefing at 7:30 a.m. and finished the move by 3 p.m.

posted 05-30-2014 04:00 AM               

Several times individuals and institutions have requested that this spacecraft be placed on display either in whole or pieces of it as a means of commemorating the sacrifice of the astronauts and the risky nature of spaceflight. NASA has always refused these entreaties, arguing that it would cheapen the memory of the lost astronauts. In 1990 it tried to entomb the capsule in a missile silo at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base along with the debris from the Challenger accident, but a public campaign led by David Alberg accusing NASA of trying to "bury" its disasters ended that.