Term Papers on Apollo 4

Term Paper Title	Apollo 4
# of Words	1094
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.38

Apollo 4

Introduction

     This paper is going to compare the Apollo 1 and the Challenger disasters.
Both space programs were unfortunate disasters, caused by a series of oversights
and misjudgments. How did this lost of life occur in such a high tech
environment? Apollo 4
     On January 27, 1967, the three astronauts of the Apollo 4, were doing a
test countdown on the launch pad.  Gus Grissom was in charge.  His crew were
Edward H. White, the first American to walk in space, and Roger B. Chaffee, a
naval officer going up for the first time.  182 feet below, R.C.A technician
Gary Propst was seated in front of a bank of television monitors, listening to
the crew radio channel and watching various televisions for important activity.
     Inside the Apollo 4 there was a metal door with a sharp edge.  Each time
the door was open and shut, it scraped against an environmental control unit
wire.  The repeated abrasion had exposed two tiny sections of wire.  A spark
alone would not cause a fire, but just below the cuts in the cable was a length
of aluminum tubing, which took a ninety-degree turn.  There were hundreds of
these turns in the whole capsule. The aluminum tubing carried a glycol cooling
fluid, which is not flammable, but when exposed to air it turns to flammable
fumes.  The capsule was filled with pure oxygen in an effort to allow the
astronauts to work more efficiently.  It also turns normally not so flammable
items to highly flammable items.  Raschel netting that was highly flammable in
the pure oxygen environment was near the exposed section of the wires.
     At 6:31:04 p.m. the Raschel netting burst into an open flame.  A second
after the netting burst into flames, the first message came over the crew's
radio channel: "Fire," Grissom said.  Two Seconds later, Chaffee said clearly,
"We've got a fire in the cockpit." His tone was businesslike (Murray 191).
     There was no camera in the cabin, but a remote control camera, if zoomed
in on the porthole could provide a partial, shadowy view of the interior of the
space craft. There was a lot of motion, Propst explained, as White seemed to
fumble with something and then quickly pull his arms back, then reach out again.
  Another pair of arms came into view from the left, Grissom's, as the flames
spread from the far left-hand corner of the spacecraft toward the porthole
(Murray 192).  The crew struggled for about 30 seconds after their suits failed,
and then died of asphyxiation, not the heat.  To get out of the capsule
astronauts had to remove three separate hatches, atleast 90 seconds was required
to open all three hatches.
     The IB Saturn rocket contained no fuel, so no chance of fire was really
thought of, so there were no fire crews or doctors standing by.  Many people
were listening to the crew's radio channel, and would have responded, but were
caught off guard and the first mention of fire was not clearly heard by anyone.
Challenger
     On January 28, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger was ready to launch.
The lead up to the launch had not been without its share of problems.  The talk
of cold weather, icicles, and brittle and faulty o-rings were the main problems.
It was revealed that deep doubts of some engineers had not been passed on by
their superiors to the shuttle director, Mr. Moore.
     Something was unusual about that morning in Florida: it was uncommonly
cold. The night before, the temperature had dropped to twenty-two degrees
fahrenheit.  Icicles hung f...

This is ONLY a preview of the article. If you would like to view the entire document, you must subscribe to Digital Term Papers. Please register below now!

Digital Term Papers has over 63,000 essays, term papers, and book notes online. Many paper sites will charge you hundreds of dollars for a single paper. Digital Term Papers only charges $14.95 for a one month membership with instant account activation!

Don't waste anymore time! Join NOW!!!

1 Month (automatic renewal) ($14.95)

3 Months (automatic renewal) ($29.95)

6 Months (one-time billing) ($39.95)

Pay by: