Apollo Redesigning

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31305, 27 February 1967, Page 14

Apollo Redesigning

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) CAPE KENNEDY, February 26.

Drastic changes in design recommended today for the ill-fated Apollo spacecraft threatened to delay America’s moon programme for as long as two years.

This was the view of observers after publication in Washington yesterday of a preliminary report on last month’s spacecraft fire that killed the astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.

It is felt that the space agency report has severely jeopardised America’s chances of beating the Russians to the moon and made even more remote President Kennedy’s goal of a lunar landing by 1970. The diisastrous fire that swept the spacecraft on its pad at Cape Kennedy took place during practice for the first three-man Apollo earth orbital flight this month. Life Support This flight could be delayed one or two years, observers now say. The recommendations involve possible changes in the life support system that allows the astronauts to breathe, replacement of combustible materials with noninflammable materials, and design and installation of a more easily operated spacecraft hatch. Investigators of the disaster also called for revision of emergency procedures to recognise the possibility of a cabin fire, an end to the use of pressurised oxygen in the cabin during pre-launch operations and a new look at the relative merits of the singlegas (oxygen) and two-gas systems. Major Job If the space agency accepts all the recommendations—and observers believe it will —a major redesign job must be undertaken.

Design changes in the environmental support system alone could take from six to 18 months, observers say. The space administrator, Mr James Webb, noted in the 12-page report: “This fire indicates 'that - a number of items related to the design and performance of the environmental control unit will require the most careful examination, and may require redesign.” Space agency officials are due to meet members of the Congress Space Committee in Washington tomorrow.