All language subtitles for From the Earth to the Moon (1998) - 1x02 - Apollo 1 - 1080p Remux.HI.eng

[John F. Kennedy]
We choose to go to the moon.

- We choose to go to the moon.
- [crowd applauding]

We choose to go to the moon
in this decade and do the other things,

not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.

[over radio] Look at that.

That's beautiful.

It's got to be one of the most proud
moments of my life. I guarantee you.

[man] In the weeks leading up
to any manned space mission,

the crew and the spacecraft are put
through a series of dress rehearsals,

each one more like the real thing
than the last.

The plugs-out test is just one of these.

The crew is wearing full pressure suits
locked inside the hatch,

confirming that the spacecraft
can operate under its own power

with all the umbilical plugs
connecting it to the ground removed.

Even for the very first Apollo mission,

the plugs-out test was routine
and hardly considered hazardous.

For astronauts Gus Grissom,
Ed White and Roger Chaffee,

it was supposed to be just another
long afternoon spent on their backs

inside the Apollo 1 command module.

Another test of the complicated vehicle
that would someday, perhaps,

take all three of them on a voyage
from the Earth to the moon.

[radio crackling]

[man 1 ] Okay, command pilot,
how do you read?

[man 2, distorted]
I read you loud and clear... read me?

[man 1 ] Well, you're pretty
garbled here, Gus.

Senior pilot, can you hear us?

[man 2, distorted]
Yes, [indistinct] loud and clear.

[man 1 ] Okay, Ed, you're worse than Gus.
How about you, Roger?

[Roger, distorted]
Okay. Pilot reads you five-by-five.

[man 1 ] Roger, you are
just a little bit better.

[Roger] Better than Ed
or better than Gus?

[man 1 ] Better than both.

[Roger] That's what I always say.

[man 1 ] Gus, what we'd like to do is
try using strictly S-band communication.

- See if we can clear this up.
- [radio crackling]

Can we get all three of you
in the S-band mode?

[Gus] We're all now in the S-band.

[man 1 ] That's real clean, Gus.

[man 1 ] Let's try one more,
and maybe we can make the run.

[Gus, distorted]
Okay. This is the command pilot.

One, two, three, four, five.

[man 1 ] Okay, you're garbled.

But I think maybe we can
get through like this.

Senior pilot, one more time, please.

[Ed] Roger. Senior pilot transmitting.

One, two, three, four...

- [crackling]
- senior pilot.

[man 1 ] Well, we're not
copying anybody five-by.

We've tried about every mode.

We never did hear the pilot.

[Roger, distorted] Pilot hasn't
talked to you yet. How's this?

- [crackling]
- One, two, three, four, five.

[man 1 ] Okay, roger.
You're all coming in about the same now.

You'll have to bear with us. Sometimes
we don't get your transmission.

- [man 2] Okay, STC...
- [radio crackling]

five hours. If you run into many more
communication problems,

well, we're down. Copy?

[man 3] Steve, I need you at the phone.

[man 1 ]
No, I didn't read you, Chuck, at all.

I can't read you, Chuck.
Want to try the phone?

How are we gonna get to the moon if we
can't talk between three buildings?

- [crackling]
- Didn't read you. Can you repeat?

I can't hear a thing you're saying.
Jesus Christ.

I said, how are we gonna get to the moon

if we can't talk between
two or three buildings?

- [crackling]
- That's a little better, gentlemen.

Give us a count on black-three.

We're trying to figure out
why you're coming in on black-two.

Okay, well, you want us to sit by here
until we get this stuff squared away?

- Uh, Chuck, I didn't read you.
- [crackling]

Test countdown hold
continues at T-minus ten.

Apollo 1, how do you read?

[over PA] Apollo 1, how do you read?

[over PA] Apollo 1, how do you read?

[Gus] I read you fine.
The problem is you're not reading me.

We're gonna get
a new backup system, Gus.

I, uh, sent a guy out for a couple
of empty soup cans and some string.

- [chuckling]
- A lot of string.

- This is really getting ridiculous.
- [crackling]

[feedback whines]

Seems like we got an open mic
in there somewhere.

- We'd better find it.
- Fire!

- We got a fire in the cockpit!
- [crackling]

- Did he say fire?
- On the monitor.

We got a bad fire!

Fire, go!

[alarm blaring]

Let's get out!

We're burning up!

[urgent chatter, alarm continues]

[people yelling]

We keeping you from something, Stormy?

Oh, Rick's rehearsal dinner.

I promised Phyllis
that I wouldn't be late. [chuckles]

I'm sure she's never heard that before.

Control is on the line from the Cape.
There's a fire in the spacecraft.

[heavy breaths echoing]

Mr. Shea, I was just trying the house.

I thought you were going straight home
from the airport.

Yeah, well, I have a couple things
I still need to take a look at.

Mission Control just called.
There's some situation with the test.

They wanted you to come over right away.

What kind of situation?

Chris, what's going on?

We lost the crew.

There was a fire. The crew is...

They're dead.

[talking quietly]

Jan?

Hi.

Would you like a sedative, Betty?

- Something to...
- No, thank you.

I've got a lot of important decisions
to make in the next few days.

I don't want to be zonked out on pills.

I better go call Gus's folks.

Martha, Mike Collins is here.

[man] Just so you know, Joe, uh,

the suits failed, but they...

The doctors said
they didn't burn to death.

It was the smoke. They were asphyxiated.

[metal creaking]

Hello? ls anybody home?

Mom? Dad?

[whispers]

[whispering] There was
a terrible accident today.

[man] It could have been
any of us in there.

Hell, it almost was me.

I was gonna sit in the spacecraft
for the test. Either me or Joe.

What?

We'd been having so many problems
with the communication system

that we thought it might be a good idea
to have somebody in there listening in.

So, up until breakfast this morning,
Joe Shea and I were gonna flip a coin

to see who got to ride
in there with the guys.

- Where would we sit?
- Not on my lap, that's for damn sure.

Well, we could fit one person across
the cabin underneath the footrail.

Whichever one of us is going in,

we'll be able to hear what it is
you fellas are hearing.

Which won't be much.

- Approximately.
- Approximately?

Well, we can't patch you
into the cabin comm lines.

We'd have to run a separate line
through the hatch.

Well, then the hatch would have to
be open. That's not gonna work.

We decided that if we weren't gonna hear
exactly what they were hearing,

that there really wasn't much point.

[man sighs]

Hell, we've been doing that test
since Mercury, Frank.

So, Joe flew back to Houston,
and I went out to the pad.

Don't really know why
I went out there with the guys.

I usually don't.

I think I just really wanted
to ride in the spacecraft.

At least see what it was like
to ride a test out up there.

But, anyway...

You know,
I'm kind of concerned about Joe.

I mean,
I saw him up at the tower, but...

I don't know how he's handling it.

How are you handling it?

[sighs]

I'm drunk. [chuckles]

You know, the thing is, Frank, that...

I mean, you and I, we both know that
people die testing unproved aircraft.

It happens all the time.

It's not nice and we don't like it,

but we all knew it'd happen someday.

No, Deke. We all knew it'd happen
someday in space.

It's one thing to die on a mission.

It's another to die on the pad
during a routine goddamn test.

Senator Mondale's thoughts are with
the families of these brave Americans.

That's it. No, that's it for now.

You seen The Times? Listen to this.

"The astronauts were badly burned.

Rescue workers needed five hours
to remove their bodies."

I always knew this was a waste of money.

It turns out it's a dangerous
waste of money.

For five, six years now, they've been
spending money hand over fist.

No one's been able to do
anything about it.

Until now.
We're going to look into this.

I talked to Anderson's office.
He wants to wait until NASA's finished...

Its own investigation?
For Christ's sake.

That's the fox guarding the henhouse.
It'll be a complete and utter...

Whitewash.

They don't like NASA employees
investigating NASA.

Well, as far as I'm concerned,
I didn't come here from Langley

to put a good face on this
for my employers.

Matter of fact, the way I see it,

while we're doing this,
we're not working for NASA.

We're working for Gus and Ed and Roger.

You're each gonna
head up a panel or two.

Max, I want you to go over all the data
that came out of the spacecraft.

Printouts, voice transmissions,
everything.

Pin down the precise sequence of events.

We're gonna have one panel
focusing squarely on the fire.

How it started, how it spread.

They'll be reporting
to Dr. Robert Van Dolah

of the Bureau of Mines
Explosives Research Center.

Frank, I want you to head up the panel

responsible for dismantling
the spacecraft.

[cigarette lighter clicking]

Sorry I'm late.
I got a call from Joe Shea.

Stormy, he had a good idea.

They're gonna use spacecraft 14
as a model for taking apart 12.

Before they remove a screw from 12,
they'll try it out first on 14.

All right, fine.

Stormy, we're gonna help them
any way we can.

I know, but we've also got to get
the Block II's ready to fly.

Anything else?

- Do you think they'll try to nail us?
- How can they nail us for it, Bud?

It wasn't our fault.

We were gonna run an emergency
egress test at the end of the plugs-out,

see how fast
they could get out of there.

How far did Ed manage
to turn the latch handle?

We don't know. Even if he'd managed
to turn the handle all the way...

He still never would've gotten out.
It's an inward-opening hatch.

Yeah. As strong as Ed was,
the pressure from the fire and smoke

would've been too much
for him to pull against.

You know what haunts me?

In a way, if it wasn't for me,

the fire might not have been fatal.

Why is that?

The capsules in the Mercury program
had explosive hatches, right?

You pull a lever and, bam,
you're out of there in a second.

Remember when Gus's capsule sank,

and everyone said he must have
blown the hatch by accident?

I was on the review board for that.

I was the one who found out
Gus was telling the truth.

The hatch could blow by itself.

It was because of that they decided not
to use an explosive hatch with Apollo.

Nice irony, huh?

If I hadn't proved Gus right,

we might have had an explosive hatch
on this spacecraft.

In which case, Gus and the boys
would still be alive and well.

I'm not a big fan of irony.

- [radio crackling]
- We got a bad fire!

Let's get out!

We're burning up!

We got a bad fire!

Let's get out!

We're burning up!

[click, tape rewinds]

We got a bad fire!

[knock on door]

I'm going now, Mr. Shea.
Is there anything I can get you?

You believe in time travel, Kathy?

I mean, if you could go back in time,
what would you do?

I mean, I'd... I'd be on that spacecraft
for the test.

That's where I'd be.

Good night, sir.

Next is TPS4CM183, item 1018.

Panel 209 mount, upper right.

Panel 209 mount, upper right.

Panel 209 mount, upper right.

Uh, counterclockwise rotation,
22 pounds torque.

Counterclockwise rotation,
22 pounds torque.

- [wrench clicks]
- Release at 22.5.

Confirmed as panel 209 mount,
upper right.

Mm, threading's intact.
No visible marking.

- 22.5. Noted.
- [clicks pen]

[man in module] Hold on.
I think you're gonna wanna see this.

It's a socket wrench.

We found it behind a panel door.

Must have been left there
by one of the North American workmen.

There's no other
reasonable explanation for it.

A socket wrench?

[scoffs] Did it have anything
to do with the fire?

Uh, we haven't finished our analysis,
but I'd have to say no.

That's a long way away
from where we think that fire started.

But it still shouldn't have been there,
should it?

No, sir.

Well, I think we better hear
what North American has to say.

Gentlemen, this is off the record.

First off, I want to thank Stormy
and Joe for coming in to talk to us.

We're gonna be writing this report
in the next three weeks,

and we have some questions for you both
that might help us clear some things up.

Stormy, we'll start with you.

- I'm sure you've seen this.
- Yes, no, I've seen that.

Uh, leaving that wrench in those wires
was careless and sloppy.

And when we find the person responsible
for leaving it there,

we're going to make our displeasure
known in the strongest possible way.

But we all know that that wrench had
absolutely nothing to do with the fire.

[man clears throat]

Stormy, a number of people have told me
Gus wasn't happy with North American.

When he made suggestions
or had complaints,

he didn't think
he was being listened to.

No, we listened, at first.

But after a while,
we had to stop listening.

The good old days
of Mercury and Gemini are gone, Frank.

On Gemini, if you wanted to make
a change in the spacecraft,

all you had to do was call up
old man McDonnell.

Right? Well, you can't do that
on Apollo. You know that, Frank.

The smallest change
has huge ramifications.

Mercury missions, you launched,
orbited a couple times, came back down.

You could hold your breath
through some of those flights.

We're going to the moon now.

So, if the accusation is we haven't done
everything you astronauts have asked us,

well, all I can say is
guilty as charged.

No one's accusing you of anything,
Stormy. This isn't a court of law.

Damn right it's not a court of law.
It's an ambush.

No. You say you got questions
for Joe and me.

Why do I think there aren't gonna be
too many questions for Joe?

Because if you don't have any,
I got a couple, Joe.

You want to tell them the real reason
for the wiring problems?

How NASA keeps changing
mission requirements,

and yet you still, you push us
to meet these arbitrary deadlines.

We never made changes
regarding Velcro, Stormy.

What?

There was not supposed to be more than
500 square inches in the cabin.

You guys had
over 5,000 square inches in there.

I wasn't aware that was a problem.

You weren't aware?
Of course you were aware.

- We talked about it last August.
- [laughter]

You guys got any other complaints?

- Uh, no steering wheel, huh?
- No.

How about tinted windows,
maybe some power steering?

- No.
- No problem.

Come on, now.
We do have a couple of other things.

Joe, check the fine print.
There's no warranty on this vehicle.

As soon as we signed the pink slip over,
it was yours.

- Caveat emptor, buddy.
- No, it's the Velcro.

It's flammable, and there's too much
of it inside. So, how did this happen?

Talk to them.
They're the ones who put it there.

Look, Joe, when you get up in zero-G,
crap just starts floating around.

But you put a little bit on your pen,
a little on the bulkhead, and presto.

Okay, well, then maybe there's just
a few too many little bits in there.

So, wherever Velcro is,

there should be at least four inches
between it and any ignition source.

- Sure. Yeah.
- All right, other than that...

Not one piece of Velcro,
or anything flammable,

was within four inches
of any ignition source.

Not that it mattered. A ten-inch gap
wouldn't have been enough.

The fire wasn't caused by Velcro.

It was caused by the use of 100%
pure goddamn oxygen under pressure.

North American was given
mission requirements.

One of the requirements was a spacecraft
designed to operate filled with oxygen

and to do so without exploding!

Joe, I think it's time
that you and your friends at NASA,

you took a little remedial math course.

In space,
the cabin was supposed to contain

five pounds per square inch
of pure oxygen, right?

Fine. So, we built it
to those specifications.

But you weren't conducting
the test in space.

You were conducting it at sea level,

where the atmospheric pressure
is already 14.8.

That means that in order to simulate
the positive pressure of spaceflight,

you had to add some PSI.

You guys tanked up that spacecraft

with almost 17 pounds
per square inch of pure oxygen.

At 17 PSI pure oxygen, Velcro explodes.

The fact remains, we conducted
over 15,000 hours of manned tests

with pressurized oxygen environments
without anything going wrong, ever!

This time something did go wrong.

You told us
there wouldn't be ignition sources.

We begged you
not to test at high pressure.

[man] All right.

All right.

Sorry.

Now, normally,
Velcro is not much of a fire risk.

This is Velcro in air at sea level.

Under intense direct heat...

it'll burn, it'll melt...

it will not support combustion.

Now, this is Velcro
in an atmosphere of 100% oxygen.

As for the spark that started it,

from our fire propagation test
and analysis of the spacecraft,

we believe the fire started down here.

Because of the severity of fire damage
in this part of the spacecraft,

we'll never know for certain
how the fire started.

Our best guess is

that a wire was resting against
the inside of this panel door here.

After the door opened
and shut a few times,

the Teflon insulation
became abraded in two spots.

When a current went through the wire,
there was an arc and...

well, you've heard the rest.

You're saying the fire was the result
of frayed wiring?

Yes.

[man] Disassembly of the Apollo 1
command module was completed

at the Kennedy Space Center
on the 27th of March, 1967,

during the first shift.

[click, door creaks]

You keep working these hours,
you're gonna have a heart attack.

- Did you read this thing?
- It's 2,300 pages, Stormy.

They're nailing us, Lee.
They're saying it was our fault.

There's a couple of references
to the fact

that testing in highly pressurized
pure oxygen is a tiny bit dangerous.

Other than that, we get our butt kicked.

- We gotta let them know...
- No, we don't.

- We're not just gonna take this?
- Yes, we are.

We have got files filled with memos
begging them not to test like that.

And we are going to forget
about those files.

- Forget about them?
- We can't blame NASA, Stormy.

We make NASA look bad,
they could cancel the whole program.

Mondale's looking for any excuse
to shut it down.

This way, we take a few hits,
but the program rolls on.

- With a new contractor.
- It's too late to get a new contractor.

Kennedy promised the moon
by the end of the decade.

They switch contractors now,
they can forget about that.

And if it looks like they're gonna
miss Kennedy's goal,

public sentiment will evaporate
and Congress will pull the plug.

They can't replace us.

We put our cap in our hands
and we beg forgiveness,

and we promise
it will never happen again.

We do not fight back.

And we forget those files exist.

What files?

[Storms] He must be loving this.

- Who?
- Joe Shea.

I can't believe how he's been able
to skate through all this unscathed.

That's not what I hear, Stormy.

From what I hear,
Joe has been anything but unscathed.

I'm okay. I'm fine.

Well, it's just that you got
a lot of people worried about you, Joe.

Yeah? Well, I'm just a little overtired.
That's all.

Hey, I know, I know.
Hell, we're all feeling the pressure.

Hear about Ron Tucker?

Got up in the middle
of a review board meeting

and started drawing an organizational
chart of heaven on the blackboard.

[chuckles]

At the top goes God,
who we'll call Big Daddy.

Ron's eating soft food
in a soft room now,

but, hell, at least he's alive.

Quality-control inspector
out at the Cape

that drove his whole family
out in front of a train...

wasn't so lucky.

You, uh... You don't think
I'm gonna snap like that, do you?

Look, I don't know, Joe. Um...

You know, a lot of people
heard you say that

you wished you'd been
in the spacecraft with the guys.

I'm not saying that I wish I was dead.

No, no, no. That's...
That's not what I'm saying at all.

It's just...

Forget it. What do they want me to do?

- Who?
- The three wise men.

Webb, Seamans, Mueller.

They think I've gone over the edge here.
What would they like me to do?

I don't know what they want you to do.

I'll tell you
what I think you should do.

I think you should take a break.
Just a leave of absence.

A couple of weeks and get some rest.

No. No.

- No.
- [sighs]

Come on, Joe.

You said yourself you were overtired.

Yeah, I got a lot of work to do.
You see that desk there?

[sighs]

Well, then, maybe...

I just think maybe you ought to
just talk to somebody, you know?

Maybe see a psychiatrist.

You really do think I've cracked.

It's just to put
everybody's mind at ease.

Fine, I'll see a psychiatrist.
I'll see a couple.

Why don't you bring on
a whole platoon of psychiatrists?

But I'm not leaving the program.
Not voluntarily.

Not till we get to the moon.

Joe, I'm gonna come right to the point.

We got letters
from the two psychiatrists.

It seems...

It seems like
you passed with flying colors.

One of those psychiatrists complained
that seeing you was a waste of his time.

Yeah.

Joe, I don't want you to think that
this reflects on what I think of you.

I mean, I honestly feel you're
the most valuable man in NASA today.

And that's why I'm gonna say
what I'm gonna say.

Joe... [sighs]

NASA is about more
than just going to the moon.

We got the space station to think about
and the manned mission to Mars.

And I want you to be
a part of all of that.

It's time you left the detail work
behind, got involved in making policy.

I want you to join me
here in Washington, Joe.

You'll be at the highest level.

You won't have to report to anyone
except maybe me.

- What do you say?
- [chuckles]

What do I say?

- How soon you want me?
- How does now sound?

That sounds great.

- I mean, we got kids in school...
- You don't have to decide right now.

You can go back to the hotel,
phone your wife, talk about it.

I'll call you tomorrow, all right?

- Thanks.
- Call you tomorrow.

- Hey, Jim. You talk to Joe?
- Yeah.

- Did he bite?
- Mm-hmm.

And I feel like a complete
and utter heel.

It had to be done, Jim. We had to get
him out of the way before the hearings.

They'd have torn him to shreds.

I don't know, George.

Maybe these hearings aren't gonna be
as horrible as we think.

Look, I'll see you in the morning.

Now, going back
to your statement, Dr. Mueller,

I think I understood you to say
there were nearly 500 inspectors

in the Apollo Program at the Cape.

Yes.

Now, for the life of me,

I cannot understand,
with all those people,

how a socket wrench could have
gone undetected in the capsule

from October until January the 27th.

[clears throat]

You're saying it was not
because NASA was in a hurry.

- The contractor is responsible...
- Wasn't that a failure?

Did you consider cancellation
of North American's contract?

Wouldn't you say they were negligent?

Sir, I have not found anyone
at North American or NASA

who would not give anything they had
to prevent what happened.

Yes, but there was negligence
on the part of North American.

Was there not?

I don't see how you can call
what they did negligence.

Unless you mean that
a company is negligent

if 100% of its work
is not done without a mistake.

As someone with extensive experience
in testing experimental aircraft,

I can tell you that
that standard is just not achievable.

So, I don't feel
that negligence is the proper word.

Thank you, Senator.

Senator Mondale.

[sighs] Well, it seems that
my colleagues have asked

all the questions I was going to ask.

Except one.

Now, I have been told, and I would like
to have this set straight if I'm wrong,

that there was a report

prepared for NASA
by General Phillips in mid or late 1965

which very strongly criticized
the Apollo program

for what were regarded as

"very serious inadequacies
in terms of quality control."

Would you comment on that?

Was there a Phillips report?

Would you comment on that?

Um...

I'm not aware of it, sir.

Is it then your testimony that no such
unusual General Phillips report existed?

Is this rumor unfounded?

[softly] That's something
we gotta take a look at.

Let us look it up, sir.

- Is there something somebody forgot?
- It was a memo, Jim.

- It wasn't a big deal.
- It is now.

It came out of the tiger team audit
from North American.

- It's old news.
- It's still gonna be damaging to us!

"I heard a rumor." Rumor, my foot.
Probably got a copy in his hand.

The only reason why he didn't throw it
in front of me like Perry Mason

is because he knows
the fool thing is classified!

He's gonna kill us.

We're dead. We're dead before
we even got off the damn launchpad.

Hold on. We don't know
what Anderson's thinking.

He can steer the committee
any way he wants.

George, where were you this morning?
He's got us twisting in the wind.

Clinton Anderson has to worry
about getting reelected

just like everybody else.

Who's left to testify?

Lee Atwood and some of the folks
from North American.

They're gonna get torn to pieces
right after lunch.

And then there are some members
of the review board.

- Borman?
- Frank's going at the end.

That's good.
Everybody loves an astronaut.

Come on, George. Are you kidding me?

You think Frank Borman's
gonna paint a rosy picture?

Hell, it could have been him
in that spacecraft.

You're right.

Where you going, Jim?

I'm gonna do the only thing left
for me to do. Beg for mercy.

I'm sorry, Mr. Webb,
but I've got a job to do,

and I'm going to do it.

With all due humility, Senator,
what did we do wrong?

- That's what I'm going to find out.
- No. I mean, why are you so down on us?

You and I are both Democrats.

Going to the moon was Kennedy's dream.

It was one of his dreams.
Jack Kennedy had a lot of dreams.

Do you really want to kill Apollo?

No. I'll tell you what I want, Mr. Webb.

I want no more American children
going hungry in any of our cities.

I want to do something about our boys
dying halfway around the world.

I want to do a lot of things.

And if getting what I want
means we don't go to the moon...

then so be it.

[crowd chattering]

[chattering stops]

Colonel Borman,
would you have entered the spacecraft

on the morning of the accident
if your turn had been called?

Yes, sir.

Would you have had any hesitancy?

No, sir.

Were there defects in workmanship?

There were.

And did these defects
go beyond workmanship?

Yes, sir. There were defects in design.

If you had entered the spacecraft
on that morning,

would you have been motivated
by a desire to take risks?

No, sir.

Sometimes there are, uh, romantic,
silk-scarf notions

attributed to this business,
but, uh, we're professionals.

We'll accept risk, certainly,
but not undue risk.

Let me rephrase the question.

Knowing what you know now,
would you have entered that spacecraft?

No, sir.

[people murmuring]

Colonel Borman,

how did Commander Grissom and his crew
feel about the readiness of the vehicle?

I talked to Ed White
shortly before the accident.

Uh... He thought they were over
most of their problems and on their way.

Colonel, didn't Commander Grissom
once hang a lemon on the simulator?

You, uh... You had to know Gus.

Did Commander Grissom
hang a lemon on the simulator?

Yes, sir.

Tell us about him, Colonel.

Sorry, Senator,
I have a couple quick questions.

Would you yield for a minute or two?

- Actually, Mr. Chairman, I...
- Thanks.

Colonel Borman, you just said,

"You had to know Gus."

And I think that that's been missing
in here these past two days.

I'd like for the record
to contain at least a little bit

about the men who perished in that fire.

Colonel, could you do that for us?

[clears throat]

Um...

Gus Grissom was the first astronaut
to be asked to fly three times.

Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

He loved being an astronaut.

Except for the publicity and being
on display that comes with the job.

There are no front windows on the house
he built for Betty in Timber Cove

because he didn't want people
looking in.

Now, if that gives you the impression
that Gus was a cranky SOB,

well, he was at times.

But I would have
trusted him with my life.

Ed White was a big man for an astronaut.

A shade under six feet.

An exceptional athlete.

As you all know, Ed was
the first American to walk in space.

There was a story going around
that when he was on his space walk,

he stayed out after he'd been ordered in
because he was having such a good time.

It's a funny story.

But it would have meant
that Ed White disobeyed an order.

Not gonna happen.

Ed was a West Point man.

And duty, honor, country weren't
just words to him, they were him.

He was one of my closest friends.

Uh...

Roger Chaffee, I, uh...

I didn't know that well.
He was one of the new guys.

Very energetic, very excited.

I heard a story about him though.

He was out on Long Island
visiting the Grumman facility

where they're building
the descent stage for the lunar module.

And he saw a group of men
standing in a corner.

Well, he found out these were
the fellas that make the tools

that make the machines.

None of the bigwigs being escorted
through there ever talked to these guys.

But Roger went over and made them feel

like they were the most important part
of the program.

Colonel, this isn't a court of law,

so I can ask you something
that's completely hypothetical.

If we could somehow reach
beyond the wall of death...

and talk to Grissom, White and Chaffee,

what do you imagine
they would say about the fire?

I was, uh... I was hoping
someone would ask that.

I don't know what Roger or Ed would say,

but, uh, I can let
Gus speak for himself.

Back in January,
he talked to a group of reporters.

They asked him about the dangers
involved in going to the moon.

it will not delay the program.

The conquest of space
is worth the risk of life.

Our God-given curiosity will force us
to go there ourselves because,

in the final analysis,
only man can fully evaluate the moon

in terms understandable to other men.

Colonel, at the risk of being gruesome,

we've heard about the fire
from everyone who was there.

Everyone except the astronauts
themselves, of course.

Can you tell us what they went through?

What it was like for them?

I can only tell you what we know,
or at least what we think we know.

Uh...

When it happened, they were
just waiting for the test to resume.

How are we gonna get to the moon if we
can't talk between three buildings?

[indistinct radio chatter]

I can't hear a thing you're saying.
Jesus Christ.

I said, how are we gonna get to the moon

if we can't talk
between two or three buildings?

[radio crackling]

They wouldn't have seen the spark
that started the fire

because it was behind a panel door
down below Gus's feet.

Because of the oxygen,

the spark was able to jump out
to the nylon netting under the seats.

Gus probably saw it first
because it was closest to him.

Fire!

We got a fire in the cockpit!

The procedure would have had
Gus push down Ed's headrest

so that Ed could start
turning the latch handle.

We got a bad fire!

We're burning up!

[Borman] By now, the, uh, temperature
and the pressure were astronomical.

Let's get out!

[breathing heavily, clock ticking]

[flames roaring]

Now...

it just took me a minute or more
to tell you all that.

In actuality, from the first mention
of the fire to the rupture of the hull,

only 15 seconds went by.

Colonel, what caused the fire?

I'm not talking about wires and oxygen.

It seems that some people think
that NASA pressured North American

to meet unrealistic
and arbitrary deadlines.

And that in turn, North American
allowed safety to be compromised.

I won't deny that there's been pressure
to meet deadlines.

But safety has never been
intentionally compromised.

Then what caused the fire?

A failure of imagination.

We've always known there was
the possibility of fire in a spacecraft.

But the fear was always
that it would happen in space

when you're 180 miles from Terra firma
and the nearest fire station.

That was the worry.

No one ever imagined
that it would happen on the ground.

If anyone had thought of it, the test
would've been classified as hazardous.

But it wasn't.
We just didn't think of it.

Now, whose fault is that?

Well, it's North American's fault.

It's NASA's fault.

It's the fault of every person
who ever worked on Apollo.

It's my fault.
I didn't think the test was hazardous.

No one did.

I wish to God we had.

Now, before we all go home,

is there any statement
you personally would like to make?

I think I'm safe in speaking for
all the astronauts when I say that...

we're confident in our management,

we're confident in our training,

in our engineering and in ourselves.

The real question is,
are you confident in us?

What do you think we should do, Colonel?

I think you should stop this witch hunt
and let us go to the moon.

[applause]

Please.

Please. Senator Mondale, back to you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have nothing further.

[Anderson] Thank you, Colonel.

[overlapping chatter]

[children playing outside]

Those are beautiful.

Well, thank you, dear.

Who called?

Lee Atwood.

He wants to see me.

On a Sunday?

I think this is it.

[sighs]

[sobs]

I wanted to see it through
to the landing.

Goddamn it.

- [buzzer]
- [woman] Mr. Shea.

- Yeah?
- There's a Mr. Storms to see you.

[thunder rumbling]

Well, they said
I wouldn't have to report to anyone.

The trouble, of course, is
there's no one to report to me either.

- So, what do you do?
- I go to the movies and I go to museums.

There's a lot of damn fine museums
in this town. Did you know that?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think I've heard that.

- So, what's next?
- Oh, I'm getting out.

I joined a company in Boston.

How about you?

Well, they moved me over to
the brake yard. I'm still a VP, but...

I still talk with my old buddies
over at the space division now and then.

And, you know, they say that things
have really improved since the fire.

Everybody's working together
better than ever.

There's a whole new sense of purpose,
a sense of relief.

Relief?

Well, everyone knew an accident
was inevitable, Joe.

I know. I talked to some UPI reporters
a couple of weeks before the fire.

I said to them that I believed some kind
of accident was probably inevitable.

I also said I thought it would be harder
on those of us on the ground.

The astronauts are dead, God rest them,

but we have to live with the knowledge
we could've done something different.

There's nothing you could've done, Joe.

I could have been in the cockpit
that day, Stormy.

Why is it every time I say that,
people assume I mean I wish I were dead?

The fire started on the left side

- below Gus's feet, right?
- Yeah.

Well, if I'd been on
the spacecraft that day,

I would've been
lying below the footrest,

right there where it started.

Figure I had a 50-50 chance
of putting the fire out

before it got out of control.

My years in flight test, I saw a number
of crews slam into the desert floor.

Too many.

I love those guys, you know, and each
time that happened, I wanted to die.

But I've learned that
you've gotta let go of the "what ifs."

They're meaningless,
and they'll kill you.

Yeah.

[Shea] it really meant a lot
you coming by, Stormy.

- I know we didn't always see eye to eye.
- Oh...

[chuckles]

I got mine up in the den.

Yeah? I'm thinking about the front hall.

You had to know it was Gus's idea.

Take care.

- Good luck.
- You too.

Bye, Joe.

Okay, well, then that leaves
only one very important thing,

which is, of course,
who's paying for dinner.

North American, I guess.

That didn't take long.

Uh, wait, gentlemen, before we go,

Roger, Ed and I
have a little presentation

we'd like to make
to Joe and Stormy here.

- Oh, yeah?
- It's not a lot.

- Just a little something from us.
- That's very nice.

From us to you.
A little something from the guys.

Plain brown paper.

- I don't know, I'm a little nervous.
- Frightened for my life, why is that?

- Because you know us.
- It's not ticking, is it?

All those designs
for the power steering, I'll bet.

[laughter]

Look at that. Oh, that's great.

Wow. That's very funny, you guys.
Thank you.

- We have absolute faith in you, really.
- Yeah, right.

- [Shea] Thank you.
- Thank you. That's very nice.

"It isn't that we don't trust you, Joe,

but this time
we've decided to go over your head."

I got a call from some woman
at NASA, Deke.

They say they don't want to call it
Apollo 1 because it never flew.

They're gonna call it Apollo 2-0...

Two-oh-four.
That was the internal designation.

It's like they already want people
to forget it ever even happened.

This is the reason
we wanted to see you, Deke.

[chuckles]

Open it.

It's an astronaut pin.

The guys knew you would never get
into space 'cause of your heart problem.

But they wanted you to know

that they considered you
as much of an astronaut as any of them.

They were gonna give that to you
when they got back.