{"id":96291,"date":"2021-12-20T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-476110"},"modified":"2023-09-20T18:26:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T22:26:24","slug":"55-years-ago-two-months-until-apollo-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/55-years-ago-two-months-until-apollo-1\/","title":{"rendered":"55 Years Ago: Two Months Until Apollo 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In December 1966, preparations continued for the first crewed Apollo mission, officially designated as AS-204 but better known as Apollo 1, planned for launch in February 1967. In March 1966, NASA assigned spaceflight veterans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/grissom_virgil.pdf?emrc=6f793c\">Virgil I. \u201cGus\u201d Grissom<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/white_edward.pdf?emrc=c9685d\">Edward H. White<\/a> and spaceflight rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/chaffee_roger_0.pdf?emrc=7ba107\">Roger B. Chaffee<\/a> as the crew to fly this important mission. In November, NASA assigned a new backup crew to the flight following changes to the overall Apollo schedule. With this late assignment, Mercury 8 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/55-years-ago-the-spirit-of-76-the-first-rendezvous-in-space\/\">Gemini VI<\/a> veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov\/JSCHistoryPortal\/history\/oral_histories\/SchirraWM\/schirrawm.htm\" rel=\"noopener\">Walter M. Schirra<\/a> and spaceflight rookies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/eisele_donn.pdf?emrc=4e176f\">Donn F. Eisele<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov\/JSCHistoryPortal\/history\/oral_histories\/CunninghamRW\/cunninghamrw.htm\" rel=\"noopener\">R. Walter Cunningham<\/a> dedicated their time to catching up in their training. At NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, engineers made repairs to the Apollo spacecraft to prepare it for flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"crew_patch_dec_1_1966\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_1_crew_patch_dec_1_1966_s66-36742.jpg\" width=\"249\" height=\"250\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"crew_presser_dec_16_1966\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_2_crew_presser_dec_16_1966.jpg\" width=\"360\" height=\"250\"><br>\n<em>Left: The crew patch for the Apollo 1 mission. Right: The newly-named Apollo 1 backup<br>\nastronauts R. Walter Cunningham, left, Donn F. Eisele, and Walter M. Schirra, join<br>\nprime crew members Roger B. Chaffee, Edward H. White, and Virgil I. \u201cGus\u201d<br>\nGrissom for a press conference.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In November, NASA announced changes to the Apollo flight schedule. Following the Apollo AS-204 mission, better known as Apollo 1, NASA originally planned AS-205 as essentially a repeat of the first flight. Since that seemed somewhat redundant, NASA decided to cancel the repeat flight. The crew of the original AS-205 mission, Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham, assigned just two months earlier, now became the backup crew for AS-204. The original AS-204 backup crew of <a href=\"https:\/\/historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov\/JSCHistoryPortal\/history\/oral_histories\/McDivittJA\/mcdivittja.htm\" rel=\"noopener\">James A. McDivitt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/scott_david.pdf?emrc=54adfb\">David R. Scott<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov\/JSCHistoryPortal\/history\/oral_histories\/SchweickartRL\/schweickartrl.htm\" rel=\"noopener\">Russell L. Schweickart<\/a> were reassigned to a later mission. As part of a two-day Apollo Press Symposium held Dec. 15-16, 1966, at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the prime and backup crews described the upcoming mission and answered reporters\u2019 questions. Apollo 1 was planned as an open-ended mission of up to 14 days\u2019 duration, with mission managers evaluating the status of the crew and spacecraft each orbit for the first six orbits to determine whether the flight could continue. If all proceeded as planned, managers would then assess their status daily, up to the maximum of 14 days. The main goals of the mission included proving the space worthiness of the spacecraft, and testing the Service Module\u2019s large engine, which on future lunar missions would perform the critical tasks to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit and later to send the astronauts homeward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"back-up_crew_training_at_downey_aug_1966\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_3_as1-0152p-s66-48108-back-up_crew_training_at_downey_aug_1966.jpg\" width=\"346\" height=\"260\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"eisele_schirra_and_cunningham_pose_by_cm-12.5.66\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_4_as1-0152b-s66-66335-eisele_schirra_and_cunningham_pose_by_cm-12.5.66.jpg\" width=\"260\" height=\"260\"><br>\n<em>Left: The newly assigned Apollo 1 backup crew of Donn F. Eisele, left, Walter M.<br>\nSchirra, and R. Walter Cunningham in pressure suits for a training session at<br>\nthe North American plant in Downey, California. Right: Eisele, left, Schirra, and<br>\nCunningham in front of a boilerplate Apollo Command Module at the Manned<br>\nSpacecraft Center, now NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston, preparing<br>\nfor a water egress training session.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"back-up_crew_recovery_training_at_msc-12.5.66\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_5_as1-0152e-s66-65934-back-up_crew_recovery_training_at_msc-12.5.66-1.jpg\" width=\"307\" height=\"247\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"back-up_crew_recovery_training_in_galveston_bay-12.6.66\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_6_as1-0152m-67h-930-back-up_crew_recovery_training_in_galveston_bay-12.6.66.jpg\" width=\"322\" height=\"245\"><br>\n<em>Left: Apollo 1 backup astronauts Donn F. Eisele, left, Walter M. Schirra, and<br>\nR. Walter Cunningham float in a life raft during water egress training at the<br>\nManned Spacecraft Center, now NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston.<br>\nRight: Schirra, left, Eisele, and Cunningham during water egress<br>\ntraining in the Gulf of Mexico.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On December 5, to train for their splashdown and egress from their spacecraft, Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham practiced with a mockup capsule in a water tank in MSC\u2019s Building 260. The next day, to add more realism to the training, they rehearsed the water egress procedures in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Galveston, Texas. Workers from MSC\u2019s Landing and Recovery Division supervised the exercise supported by the Motorized Vessel (MV) Retriever and the U.S. Coast Guard. After the astronauts boarded the spacecraft, crews on the MV Retriever closed the capsule\u2019s hatch and lowered it into the water in the Stable II, or apex down, position. The astronauts commanded three balloons to inflate to right the spacecraft into the Stable I, or apex up, position. They then egressed from the capsule onto life rafts, from which Coast Guard helicopter crews picked them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"eisele_cunningham_and_schirra_suitied_for_alt_chamber_test_at_ksc-12.29.66\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_7_as1-0153b-67hc-11-eisele_cunningham_and_schirra_suitied_for_alt_chamber_test_at_ksc-12.29.66_cropped.jpg\" width=\"319\" height=\"310\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"back-up_crew_in_cm_during_alt_chamber_test_at_ksc-12.29.66\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_8_as1-0156-s67-20527-back-up_crew_in_cm_during_alt_chamber_test_at_ksc-12.29.66.jpg\" width=\"311\" height=\"311\"><br>\n<em>Left: Apollo 1 backup astronauts Donn F. Eisele, left, R. Walter Cunningham,<br>\nand Walter M. Schirra suit up for an altitude test of the spacecraft at NASA\u2019s<br>\nKennedy Space Center (KSC). Right: Inside the Apollo Command Module in the<br>\nKSC vacuum chamber, Schirra, left, Eisele, and Cunningham (not visible)<br>\nprepare for an altitude test.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Grissom, White, and Chaffee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/55-years-ago-three-months-until-apollo-1\/\">completed altitude tests<\/a> with their Apollo spacecraft in a vacuum chamber in KSC\u2019s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB), in November the heat exchanger in the capsule\u2019s environmental control system failed, requiring replacement of the unit. During retesting of the system in early December, it suffered a coolant leak requiring this new unit to be replaced as well. The third unit passed its tests, and on Dec. 30, Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham completed a full altitude run in the vacuum chamber to close out the pressure integrity tests. The new year would see the spacecraft removed from the vacuum chamber on Jan. 3, 1967, and transported from the MSOB to Launch Pad 34 three days later to be stacked atop its Saturn IB rocket in preparation for preflight testing with the crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To be continued\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>World events in December 1966:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 1 \u2013 The date and location of the first Super Bowl are announced as January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Coliseum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 3 \u2013 Television pop group The Monkees make their live concert debut at the Honolulu International Center Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 7 \u2013 The U.S. launches the ATS-1 (Applications Technology Satellite-1), the first experimental geosynchronous satellite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 8 \u2013 The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. sign a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 15 \u2013 Walt Disney dies at age 65.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 18 \u2013 Dr. Seuss\u2019 \u201cHow the Grinch Stole Christmas\u201d airs for the first time on CBS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 19 \u2013 The United Nations adopt the Outer Space Treaty \u2013 it would be signed on January 27, 1967, the same day as the Apollo 1 fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 20 \u2013 Ten American climbers summit Mt. Vinson, at 16,050 feet the highest peak in Antarctica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 21 \u2013 The U.S.S.R. launches Luna 13 that makes a soft-landing on the Moon three days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 23 \u2013 \u201cThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly\u201d starring Clint Eastwood makes its premiere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 26 \u2013 Maulana Karenga establishes the Kwanzaa holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In December 1966, preparations continued for the first crewed Apollo mission, officially designated as AS-204 but better known as Apollo 1, planned for launch in February 1967. In March 1966, NASA assigned spaceflight veterans Virgil I. \u201cGus\u201d Grissom and Edward H. White and spaceflight rookie Roger B. Chaffee as the crew to fly this important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":104087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2656,2713,2941,2800,3744,3215,2655,2671,3486,3557],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[3973,5027,3879,5680,4943,5751,12664,3867,5938],"coauthors":[11996],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"55 Years Ago: Two Months Until Apollo 1","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/55-years-ago-two-months-until-apollo-1\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/55-years-ago-two-months-until-apollo-1\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_1_crew_patch_dec_1_1966_s66-36742.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_1_crew_patch_dec_1_1966_s66-36742.jpg"},"articleSection":"Humans in Space","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"John Uri"}],"creator":["John Uri"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["Humans in Space","Astronauts","Former Astronauts","Virgil I. Grissom","Apollo","Apollo 1","Edward H. White II","Missions","NASA History","Roger B. Chaffee"],"dateCreated":"2021-12-20T20:00:00Z","datePublished":"2021-12-20T20:00:00Z","dateModified":"2023-09-20T22:26:24Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"55 Years Ago: Two Months Until Apollo 1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/55-years-ago-two-months-until-apollo-1\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/apollo_1_l-2_months_1_crew_patch_dec_1_1966_s66-36742.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2021-12-20T20:00:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Humans in Space\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"Humans in Space,Astronauts,Former Astronauts,Virgil I. Grissom,Apollo,Apollo 1,Edward H. White II,Missions,NASA History,Roger B. 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