Unfortunately, this dispute was the beginning of all that led to the deaths of three astronauts. Virgil Ivan Grissom, Edward Higgins White II, and Roger Bruce Chaffee.
The assembly of the shuttle and cabin for the space flight was proceeding at an extraordinary pace due to the dispute over whether the Soviet or American crew would go to the moon first. Certainly conditions were not ideal. North American Aviation, Inc. was in charge of construction. The company may not have won the bidding, but through clever trickery and NASA connections, it eventually won the contract.
After the design was completed, the astronauts were greatly troubled by the condition of the cabin. It was different from the simulators they had been training in. The cabin was smaller, had a different layout, and contained many combustible materials. NASA noted and discussed the astronauts\’ objections, but feared they would miss the deadline set by President Kennedy himself, The entire structure was deemed flightable.
On January 27, 1967, a simulated launch and countdown exercise took place. During the training, the astronauts were in their cabins. The plan was to have a fourth person, one of the flight controllers, accompany them. In the end, however, he did not participate in the launch and saved their lives. The astronauts smelled a strange odor in the cabin, but no one could pinpoint the cause. There were also problems with the radio link. More than three hours into the simulation, the wiring circuit shorted out. Chaffee reported a fire in the cabin only seconds after this short circuit. They were unable to get out because the inadequately constructed door was difficult to open. Other astronauts rushed to help, but they could not enter the cabin until five minutes later. By then, all the astronauts were dead. In the cabin, which was pressurized with oxygen, the fire spread within seconds and there was no chance for the astronauts to survive.
