A few weeks before the fire, Grissom presented his publisher with the first draft of “Gemini”, which was him talking about the Gemini program from the inside. The epilogue was him talking about the coming Apollo Program. It’s been a few years since I read it, but I recall him being enthusiastic about the coming missions. But, he did comment, briefly, his reservations about the pure oxygen environment that was still being used. A sobering moment from a man reputed to be a consummate engineer. But… Based on everything I have read and heard, that clip at then end of this was how he felt. He would have wanted what happened. We learned from the tragedy, and substantively redesigned the capsule to keep this from happening again. Losing those three good men was a devastating blow. But one we could recover from. Let’s never forget Grissom, Chaffee, and White.
A few weeks before the fire, Grissom presented his publisher with the first draft of “Gemini”, which was him talking about the Gemini program from the inside. The epilogue was him talking about the coming Apollo Program. It’s been a few years since I read it, but I recall him being enthusiastic about the coming missions. But, he did comment, briefly, his reservations about the pure oxygen environment that was still being used. A sobering moment from a man reputed to be a consummate engineer. But… Based on everything I have read and heard, that clip at then end of this was how he felt. He would have wanted what happened. We learned from the tragedy, and substantively redesigned the capsule to keep this from happening again. Losing those three good men was a devastating blow. But one we could recover from. Let’s never forget Grissom, Chaffee, and White.
One of the most poignant scenes in the greatest series of all time and my favorite part of the series. Not to be missed.