Martian Landmarks Dedicated to Apollo 1 Crew

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

DC Agle (818) 393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

NEWS RELEASE: 2004-040 January 27, 2004

Martian Landmarks Dedicated to Apollo 1 Crew

NASA memorialized the Apollo 1 crew -- Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger
Chaffee -- by dedicating the hills surrounding the Mars Exploration
Rover Spirit's landing site to the astronauts. The crew of Apollo 1
perished in flash fire during a launch pad test of their Apollo
spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., 37 years ago today.

"Through recorded history explorers have had both the honor and
responsibility of naming significant landmarks," said NASA
administrator Sean O'Keefe. "Gus, Ed and Roger's contributions, as
much as their sacrifice, helped make our giant leap for mankind
possible. Today, as America strides towards our next giant leap, NASA
and the Mars Exploration Rover team created a fitting tribute to these
brave explorers and their legacy."

Newly christened "Grissom Hill" is located 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles)
to the southwest of Spirit's position. "White Hill" is 11.2 kilometers
(7 miles) northwest of its position and "Chaffee Hill" is 14.3
kilometers (8.9 miles) south-southwest of rover's position.

Lt. Colonel Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom was a U.S. Air Force test pilot
when he was selected in 1959 as one of NASA's Original Seven Mercury
Astronauts. On July 21, 1961, Grissom became the second American and
third human in space when he piloted Liberty Bell 7 on a 15 minute
sub-orbital flight. On March 23, 1965 he became the first human to
make the voyage to space twice when he commanded the first manned
flight of the Gemini space program, Gemini 3. Selected as commander of
the first manned Apollo mission, Grissom perished along with White and
Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire. He is buried at Arlington National
Cemetery, Va.

Captain Edward White was a US Air Force test pilot when selected in
1962 as a member of the "Next Nine," NASA's second astronaut
selection. On June 3, 1965, White became the first American to walk in
space during the flight of Gemini 4. Selected as senior pilot for the
first manned Apollo mission, White perished along with Grissom and
Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire. He is buried at his alma mater, the
United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.

Selected in 1963 as a member of NASA's third astronaut class, U.S.
Navy Lieutenant Commander Roger Chaffee worked as a Gemini capsule
communicator. He also researched flight control communications
systems, instrumentation systems, and attitude and translation control
systems for the Apollo Branch of the Astronaut office. On March 21,
1966, he was selected as pilot for the first 3-man Apollo flight. He
is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Va.

Images of the Grissom, White and Chaffee Hills can be found at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rove...s/image-1.html

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars
Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology, also in Pasadena. Additional information about the project
is available from JPL at

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at

http://athena.cornell.edu/ .

-end-

On 27 Jan 2004 17:23:44 -0800, (Ron) wrote:


NASA memorialized the Apollo 1 crew -- Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger
Chaffee -- by dedicating the hills surrounding the Mars Exploration
Rover Spirit's landing site to the astronauts.

Very nice tribute!

And I guess that it is about a 99% certainty that NASA tomorrow will
christen the Opportunity landing site as "Challenger Memorial
Station". Spirit landed at "Columbia Memorial Station" and now we have
the Apollo 1 Hills.

Tomorrow is the 18th anniversary of the 51L disaster.

Brian

On 27 Jan 2004 17:23:44 -0800, (Ron) wrote:

NASA memorialized the Apollo 1 crew -- Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger
Chaffee -- by dedicating the hills surrounding the Mars Exploration
Rover Spirit's landing site to the astronauts ....


Damn straight!




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I notice the three US manned space disasters all happened in the same
calender week. Yet only the Challenger accident was blamed partially on the
weather then. Probably just an unfortunate coincidence.

On 30 Jan 2004 08:29:11 -0800, (rick++) wrote:

I notice the three US manned space disasters all happened in the same
calender week. Yet only the Challenger accident was blamed partially on the
weather then. Probably just an unfortunate coincidence.


That's because the weather, ie the cold, had something to do with it
in that case.

In the case of Apollo 1, the fire resulted from faulty wiring in a
100% oxygen atmosphere. Nothing to do with flying. In fact, the
accident happened during a launch rehersal, not an actual flight.

Nor did weather have anything to do with the Columbia disaster; it was
too high up when it broke up for weather to matter much.

So yes, just a coincidnece.




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In article ,
Michael Gallagher wrote:
Nor did weather have anything to do with the Columbia disaster; it was
too high up when it broke up for weather to matter much.

The cold made the O rings less flexible.

"Greg Hennessy" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Michael Gallagher wrote:
Nor did weather have anything to do with the Columbia disaster; it was
too high up when it broke up for weather to matter much.

The cold made the O rings less flexible.


Wrong shuttle.
Try again.

On Sun, 1 Feb 2004 04:00:12 +0000 (UTC),
(Greg Hennessy) wrote:

The cold made the O rings less flexible.

On CHALLENGER, yes, but not on COLUMBIA.




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