Broadcast: July 14, 2019 at 4:00 p.m.
Trials and Fire
Part 2 (of this 2-part series) looks at the fire on board Apollo 1 that killed three astronauts and nearly derailed the space program. Today we understand better than ever that the exploration of space is a risky business.
The explosions of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 made that clear. But in 1967, most Americans saw space as nothing more than a big adventure. The danger seem beyond imagining. In this program we go back to the disaster that almost derailed the Apollo Program and America's drive to put a man on the moon; the tragedy of Apollo One.
We look at how the fire revealed deep flaws in a NASA management structure that businesses and governments around the world viewed with envy and how NASA's attempts to cover-over those flaws fed into Congressional distrust that almost crushed the Space Program.
Produced by: Richard Paul
Listen click here for audio:http://beta.prx.org/stories/8722