Word: apollo
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...most Americans, the muffled drums and the somber eulogies were the only form of tribute left to offer Grissom, White and Chaffee. But to the stunned technicians of the Apollo program, there could be no more fitting service to the astronauts-the quick and the dead-than an exhaustive in quest on the burned-out spacecraft. To that end, a board of inquiry, headed by Floyd L. Thompson, director of NASA's Langley Research Center near Hampton, Va., embarked on an excruciatingly intricate search to discover the cause of the fatal blast...
...wiring, poring over the soot-coated, grey-scorched dials, tubes and toggle switches of the instrument panel. The outer surface of the capsule was blistered and blackened in places, evidence that the blaze somehow erupted through the light skin of the airtight craft. The board ordered another, partially completed Apollo spacecraft flown to Cape Kennedy from North American Aviation's plant in Downey, Calif., so that investigators could compare its components with the blackened debris scattered about the ruined craft...
...long-range effect of the Apollo tragedy on the moonshot program is as uncertain as the precise outcome of the inquiry. If the experts find some basic design deficiency in the capsule, a year or more may pass before a shot is attempted. For the moment, that seemed unlikely. The most plausible theory is that a combination of improper procedures and some specific equipment malfunctions caused the fire. Whatever the outcome, an Apollo flight will almost certainly be delayed for six months. Meanwhile, as engineers probed the wreckage of Apollo 204, technicians on the sterilized assembly line at North American...
...greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked." Last week, with the tragedy at Cape Kennedy's Pad 34, the nation realized for the first time, in astronautic and human terms, just how hazardous the lunar adventure can be. Old arguments that questioned the whole concept of the Apollo mission seemed to take on new pertinence. Critics were once again asking: Is it worth the cost-in lives, in resources, in money...
Still, the questions persist. There are those who deride the reach for the moon as a mere race with the Russians for national prestige. But the competition has shifted in emphasis in the 51 years since the Apollo program began. At the start, speed was all-important. The Russians were already boasting to wavering nations that their space firsts demonstrated the superiority of the Communist way of life. And there was little doubt of the impact of their argument. Everywhere, everyone capable of understanding the significance of the Russian achievement recognized the impressive technological, industrial and scientific skills that...