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by J. L. Pickering and John Bisney with Ed Hengeveld.
Hardback (8.9×11.3 inches). 272 pages. 2025.
Nice, big coffee-table sized book presents an archive of Apollo 1 photos with obvious attention to the three NASA astronauts Gus Grisson, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White, who lost their lives in the fire on the launch pad.
The photos cover astronaut training, public introductions, more training, the fire, and the final location of the capsule. It is not a definitive examination of the processes in place, operations, or even the fire itself. If you want such an in-depth analysis of the accident, you’ll need to find other sources.
Some factoids in the photo captions: Starting in December 1963, the public could drive their private cars around the launch pad on Sunday afternoons (p71).
A close-up photo of the floor near the lower forward section indicates where the fire most likely started (p228).
What happened to the Apollo 1 capsule after the investigations were concluded? It was locked away in a storage shed at Langley Research Center. In 2007, it was moved to a new climate controlled storage warehouse. In 2017, three hatches were removed and put on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center. Otherwise, technicians check the warehouse twice a year (p257).
The jacket blurb says more than 500 photos — I didn’t count them, but that seems an accurate estimate. And they are all sharp.
If you are a space buff, this fascinating photo-centric history of the Apollo 1 astronauts will likely be much appreciated. Even if your interest is only centered on the tragedy, you’ll likely find the photos of the inside of the capsule — something I don’t ever recall seeing — interesting.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
