"The Fire;" Hoping for More Than Lip Service

As the 38th anniversary of the Apollo One fire approaches, I am still
hoping someone will come forward:
ATTN: NASA AND NAA EMPLOYEES PAST AND PRESENT: This is NOT a joke. Last
week I received a disturbing email concerning the Apollo One fire which
read, in
part, "...informed me that they were told 2 days after the
fire,
the cause WILL BE an electrical short under Grissom's couch. He (name
omitted)
believes,
and I do too, that it was to protect the NASA engineers and inspectors
from
criticisms leveled in the Barron report."
He went on to say that employees were told if they said anything
differently, their security clearances would be pulled, effectively
terminating them
If you can provide information on this, I will pay cash.
Size of reward depends upon value of information given. You MUST be
able to provide proof of your identity, position with NASA, and
how/where you obtained the information given.
ALL RESPONDENTS WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS UNLESS PERMISSION IS GIVEN BY
RESPONDENT TO REVEAL IDENTITY.
Please reply to
Thank you.

I can't resist pointing out three things one more time.

1. That a poster has not spent ten years researching this does not mean that
any facts they point out are irrelevant.

2. A crime in which everyone involved, decades after the event, has never
talked when they know they could make millions from the tabloid press if they
DID talk, cannot happen in the real world.

3. In a police investigation, they look for the existence of MOM: Means,
Opportunity, Motive. Means was easy - the capsule was such a jury rig it might
have been more amazing if it never caught fire. Opportunity is a little
tighter, but certainly there were dozens of people who would have had the
opportunity to move wires, shave off insulation, or whatever. Motive - here
the whole conpiracy thing hits a brick wall. No one has ever proposed a motive
that is in any way believable. Given that a decision by higher-ups to ground a
certain astronaut could have been accomplished simply by bribing one person - a
flight surgeon or even a medical technician (or maybe a hooker and a
photographer) - no sane human being would believe anyone instead said, "No,
let's bribe someone to commit murder, hope no one ever talks, kill three guys,
cost millions, delay the program, and possibly end the program instead."

Case closed. Let them rest in peace.




Matt Bille
)
OPINIONS IN ALL POSTS ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR

Another intelligent reply. Allow me to respond in kind. #1 is very
true. I believe (since there is no other post to this thread) you are
referring to my response to RK. He and I have a history going back
several months. He claims to be so incredibly knowledgeable, but no
matter how much information I give him, he always comes back either
feigning ignorance of what I'm saying or arguing minutiae. However,
when someone takes the time to post an intellent reply, I take the time
to honor the thought and interest. As to #2: We are not dealing with
a normal situation. Sure, when you have a Watergate, where the only
real issue is one man's lust for power, it is easy (more or less) to
have a "Deep Throat" come out. But when you are talking about billions
of dollars in government contracts, military men who will do anything
in the name of "national security," and people who are more concerned
with their jobs than their consciences, it's quite a different story.
I cannot count how many technicians with whom I have spoken who were
present on the pad that day. They ALL said they had problems with the
Review Board Report, and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM gave the following
reply when I asked why they never said anything: "It's NASA. You
can't fight NASA." It is THAT mentality, more than anything else, that
has kept the truth hidden from the public all this time.
As to #3, you have obviously heard the theory that someone wanted Gus
dead either out of jealousy or because he was about to blow the whistle
on the condition of the spacecraft, or because he was about to blow the
lid off the alleged "Moon hoax." I do not subscribe to any of the
above. There WAS motive, however. Scott looks to the Soviet Union,
and that is certainly a possibility. However, of late another scenario
has developed in my mind. There were a lot of disgruntled workers
after the switch from Gemini to Apollo. Even the astronauts were
frustrated, because they were used to dealing with McDonnell and could
march right into "Mac's" office at any hour of the day or night,
complain about something, and get immediate results. When NAA took
over, it was an entirely different story. Arbitrary deadlines were
set, the frustration levels rose on all sides, NAA dug in its heels and
refused to make changes, etc., and technicians were extremely upset.
Tom Baron is the most well-known of those, but there were many others.
It is entirely possible someone was trying to make a point, to say,
"See? I told you what would happen if you didn't listen to me." I
don't know that ANYONE intended to KILL the astronauts, but someone
DEFINITELY wanted to cause a serious problem. And there is the case of
an unidentified piece of metal that was found on the switch that
clearly did NOT belong there.
As to your closing statement: The families do not want "case closed,"
and neither do I. But for those who wish I would go away and leave it
be, would you dare say the same to them?
Thank you for your thoughtful response.

P.S. #3 assumes a large number of people are aware of what really
happened out there. I don't believe that at all. There were a few,
select individuals (Borman being one of them) who knew exactly what
happened and participated in the lie. The rest just have their
suspicions. So, we're not talking about thousands of people
in-the-know. The Air Force and NASA would have kept it to "Need to
Know" only.