# apollo 1



## woof359 (Apr 27, 2003)

i was watching the HBO series "from the earth to the moon " last night and when they showed them closing the hatch on Apollo 1 just before the fire it looked like they had and inner and outer hatch, the outer hatch looked like plastic ?


----------



## Sonett (Jul 21, 2003)

The "outer hatch" you saw was part of the protective cover which remained during the first minute or so after launch in case the emergency escape rocket above was needed. It covered the entire command module.
Hope this helps!


----------



## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

That's a wonderful series BTW!


----------



## Rainfollower (Oct 6, 2006)

Info on the Apollo Boost Protective Cover (BPC):

http://www.apollosaturn.com/boost.htm


----------



## woof359 (Apr 27, 2003)

*cover*

i never knew there was a cover over the capsule, thanks for the info.


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

woof359 said:


> i never knew there was a cover over the capsule, thanks for the info.


Its one of the things Revell screwed up in their 1/48 Saturn V upper stage kit. They have the escape tower fitting directly to the CSM. There should be a conical, capsule shaped cover.


----------



## Sonett (Jul 21, 2003)

Yeah, if that escape rocket was ever fired over a "Revell configuration", it would have been a bad day for everyone!


----------



## f1steph (Jan 9, 2003)

From Earth to the Moon is a fantastic series. I've screen captured several shots for my Gemini 12 capsule project, especially Aldrin's Golden Sleepers witch they showed them pretty clearly. But they screwed up badly for the G12 capsule details, especially the detailing of the ASAS and liquid fuel tank (white sections) were there's no trace of the velcro pieces. It's a must for all 1960's space maniacs..... 

BTW, are you planning on building the Apollo 1 capsule?


----------



## woof359 (Apr 27, 2003)

nope, just caught them closing the second hatch and ran it back and forth a few time, 2 doors ? am I the only one that when i see one of these capsules in a museum i wanna climb in, just to see what it was like ?


----------



## f1steph (Jan 9, 2003)

Yep, me too. And realized how crazy these guys were to sit in a seat, on top of a big candle that can turn to ashes anything in several miles radius. I heard, I think in ''Failure is not an option'' that NASA were very lucky to have lost only 3 astronauts (White, Grissom and Chaffy), that the technology was so primitive in the '60's for this kind of adventure. They did touch the desaster line a couple of times without never crossing it. As for the double door in Apollo 1, it reminds me of seeing this somewhere in one of my god knows how many docu I have of this subject. If I remember correctly, it was taking them 90 secondes to open both hatchs, way too long for an emergency exit. Got to check this but I think the first hatch, the astronauts had to pull the hatch inside. So when the capsule was pressurized, there was no way an astronaut was able to pull on that hatch to open it. Plus the were using 100% pressured oxygen inside the capsule, create a spark and you'll have a thunderball flotting inside the capsule. 
Here's a picture of the double hatch 
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/AS-204_-_hatch.jpg
And a very good description of the incident from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

Steph


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Remember the original capsule that burned is different from ones you see in museums too. It has never been on display and the last I heard there was a petition to have it entombed under the old, defunct, launch platform at Cape Canaveral.


----------



## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Steph, that sounds like the info they talk about in the movie Apollo 13.


----------

