History of Science

I’ve been learning about the History of Science courtesy of Crash Course. It’s really interesting.

I first found out that the history of science was fascinating from Connections by James Burke. This was a PBS series back in the day (the late 1970s) (and it’s not really PBS, since it came across the pond from the BBC), and each one traced a series of scientific and technological discoveries from ancient to modern times. The first episode traced the invention of the plough to modern power blackouts. While the show looks dated (hey, it’s over 40 years old!), if you can get past that, it really rewards viewing. You can watch it on YouTube here.

Anyway, the YouTube playlist for the Crash Course History of Science is 46 episodes long, so I have some watching ahead of me.

Well, I just finished it today. There’s a lot there to unpack. I think they did a really good job with it. I’m also watching their course on Outbreak Science, and I want to start watching Geography; I’ve always liked maps.

#crashcourse

Apollo 1 anniversary

Apollo_1_patchApollo_1_Prime_Crew 47 years ago today, Apollo 1 died, along with her crew: Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. It was to be the first launch of the Apollo Program, and the 3 crew members were doing a test on the pad. The mission was a low Earth orbital test, the first with the complex Apollo command module.

On January 27th, 1967, the crew were doing a “plugs out” test, where they tested that the command module would work without being connected to umbilicals and cables. The cabin interior was pressurized with a pure oxygen atmosphere, at a pressure slightly higher than outside air pressure. There was a voltage spike at 6:30 am, and shortly afterwards Chaffee exclaimed “Hey!”, and “I’ve got a fire in the cockpit!”. 17 seconds later, the transmission ceased as the command module ruptured.

There were multiple places where there could have been an ignition source, but later tests showed that the astronauts in nylon pressure suits, reclining on nylon flight seats and moving around normally could have generated enough electrical charge that touching the metal control panels would cause a spark.

The pressurized, pure oxygen atmosphere also contributed to the fire. Many materials become highly flammable in these circumstances. There were about 70 pounds of nonmetallic flammable material in the cockpit.

Further, the hatch was designed to not open if the cabin was at higher than atmospheric pressure. So the crew was unable to open the hatch without venting the extra pressure first, and the vent controls were near where the fire started.

While the mission never happened, and at the time the spacecraft was called AS-204, the designation was changed to Apollo 1: first manned Apollo Saturn flight – failed on ground test.