Original subtitles

We choose to go to the moon.

We choose to go to the moon.

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.

- Look at that. - That's beautiful.

It's gotta be one of the most proud moments of my life. I guarantee ya.

For most of human history, a voyage to the moon was the fantasy...

of the addlebrained or foolhardy...

for only divine beings and supermen could make the journey.

But then humans went aloft on mechanical wings...

defying gravity and redefining the realm of possibility...

and the moon was within the grasp of whoever would build the machine...

to take them there.

The main requirement for making the fantasy a fact? Perseverance.

The wherewithal to solve the problems one by one...

over the long course of the endeavor.

Problems such as how to make that first exploratory leap...

into the lifeless void of outer space.

For without surviving that, no one would ever dare make...

the foolhardy, yet divine, voyage from the Earth to the moon.

- What do you do here at the base, sir? - I'm an astronaut.

Are you one of the seven astronauts that have been chosen?

That's right. I'm one of the seven.

They're gonna shoot me out into space, into the blue.

Up above buildings!

Now, sir, just one moment. One moment.

Sure. I'm a little nervous. I'm afraid I'm gonna lose my life.

- Sir, may I ask you something? - Sure.

I saw the pictures of the seven astronauts that appeared in Life.

- You saw those pictures, yeah. - You are not among them.

None of them are them.

- You mean, those are not the real? - No, those are models.

You see, they can't take pictures of us. We're monkeys, man.

- What do you mean, you're monkeys? - Let me explain something.

- Those are seven handsome men. - See, they're beautiful.

They take pictures of them, so that we're not ashamed for Russia...

to show such ugly little astronauts!

- You're not a very good-looking man. - No, I'm a monkey!

Sir, I'm a little disturbed that they're sending you up...

to be the first man in space.

You seem ill-equipped to be an astronaut.

What do you mean? I got gloves and everything.

There is historic news from behind the Iron Curtain.

Man has traversed the reaches of outer space, and that man is a Communist.

Soviet pilot Yury Gagarin in the spacecraft Vostok l...

successfully lifted off the face of the Earth...

flew his craft around the globe in approximately 90 minutes...

and landed safely in the Soviet Union.

As with the flight of Sputnik four years ago...

this latest Russian achievement...

has caught those in the American space program by surprise.

The seven American astronauts of the Mercury space program...

suddenly find themselves jockeying for second place.

It has been reported that either Gus Grissom...

John Glenn or Alan B. Shepard...

will be the first to fly the one-man Mercury space capsule.

Just when the flight will take place has been the subject of much speculation.

Tonight President Kennedy is meeting with officials...

of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration...

to discuss not just why we are losing the space race...

but perhaps if it has already been lost.

- The Russian went into orbit. - One orbit, yes.

We can't even match that.

Not yet.

Gentlemen.

President has been keeping up with your hearings...

before Congress and committees.

For the purpose of tonight's meeting, we can dispense with small talk.

He will want to know how we can catch the Russians...

or better yet, leapfrog them.

We can put a man on the moon before the Russians. How about that?

It'll take a concerted national effort.

Something along the lines of the Manhattan Project.

How much would it cost?

Somewhere between $10 billion and $20 billion.

Pumping that much cash...

into the private sector could be popular.

He will ask if there's anything we can do for less of the taxpayers' dollars.

What if we put up a space laboratory of some kind?

They'll beat us.

If we get into a race with them over heavy lifting capabilities...

which is all that putting up a space station will demonstrate...

we're going to lose for at least the next five years.

Hugh, were you as sure about this when you were working under Eisenhower?

No, but the Soviets hadn't put a man in space then.

Most assuredly, the moon is their ultimate objective.

Red moon, huh? Who wants that hangin' over our heads?

As head of the president's science advisory...

I've gotta tell him that politics aside...

there's no reason to put a man on the moon.

The only thing we'll get for our money is some rocks.

So, put a probe up, scoop some out, bring 'em back...

and tour the world with them for propaganda purposes.

You don't need to send a man a quarter of a million miles away to do that.

And it sure as hell won't cost $20 billion.

Well, certainly the president realizes the moment a man steps on the moon...

will be a definitive one in the history of the world.

Especially when he sticks Old Glory in it and salutes.

He's ready for us.

Can the president count on anything in the immediate future?

Yes, the second of May. We'll have an American up on the second of May.

Command carrier on.

Roger. Command carrier on.

Turn off telemetry transmitters when sep is complete.

Roger. Flight transmitters are off.

All stations report.

Flight controller, summary status check.

Check A.L.O. switch position.

Roger. The A.L.O. switch position on.

Liftoff is on.

The Mercury control center is go.

Roger. Flight M.C.C. is go.

We have ignition.

We have liftoff.

- You're on your way, Jose. - Roger.

Liftoff, and the clock is started.

This is Freedom 7! Fuel is go!

1.2 "G."

The cabin pressure: 14 p.s.i.

Oxygen is go! Freedom 7, it is still go!

Roger. Copy.

This is 7. Fuel is go.

1.8 "G." Eight p.s.i, cabin, and the oxygen is go.

Cabin pressure holding at 5.5.

Cabin holding at 5.5.

Cabin valves remain sealed. Environment's holding.

I understand. Cabin holding at 5.5.

We are still go, CAPCOM.

Fuel is go.

2.5 "G." Cabin, 5.5.

Oxygen is go. The main vessel's 24...

and the isolated battery is 29.

- Okay, it's a lot smoother now. - Roger.

We are at max speed.

Fuel is go. 5.5, cabin. Oxygen is go.

All systems are go.

All systems are go. The trajectory is okay.

Tower jettison.

Cap sep green.

-Flight, we'll be coming up on zero "G." -Very good.

I'll turn jett off, and the turnaround has started.

A.S.C.S. is okay. No movement.

Roger.

Okay. I have got a visual on the periscope.

- What a beautiful view. - I'll bet it is.

Cloud cover over Florida.

Three- to four-tenths near the Eastern Coast.

I can see Okeechobee, identify Andros Island...

identify the reefs.

Manual flight control. Roll and yaw are okay.

- Feels great to fly. - Start retro sequence.

In retro attitude.

- Control is smooth. - Roger.

Down to retro. Five, four, three, two, one.

Retro fire.

- Retro one, very smooth. - Roger.

- Retro two. - Retro two.

Retro three. All three retros are fired.

All right on the button.

Retro jettison is red to arm.

- CAPCOM, go fly by wire. - Switching to fly by wire.

- Fly by wire. - Roger!

All is okay.

Roger. I do not have a light.

Understand that you do not have a light.

I saw the straps falling away. I heard a noise.

- I will use override. - Roger.

Okay, buster, reentry. A.S.C.S. normal.

- Roger. - Periscope is retracting.

- A.S.C.S. is okay. - Understand.

- Switching to UHFon radio. - On UHF. Back to UHF.

Okay, this is Freedom 7. "G" buildup.

Three.

Six.

Nine!

Eleven!

Okay!

11.5 max "G."

- This is 7. I'm okay. - Coming through loud and clear.

9,000 feet.

Freedom 7, your impact will be right on the button.

The drogue is freed at 21,000 feet.

I've got 70% auto, 90% manual.

Oxygen is still okay.

CAPCOM, can you read?

CAPCOM, can you read?

- I read. - How do you read now?

CAPCOM, glad to be here aboard.

The main chute is green.

Main chute is green. Main chute is good!

All right. All right.

Rate of descent is about 35 feet per second.

I'm at 7,000 feet. Landing bag is on green. My peroxide is dumped.

My condition is good.

Somewhere

Beyond the sea

Somewhere waitin' for me

Flight And Splashdown was 'A-O.K.!"'

My lover stands

On golden sands

And watches the ships

That go sailin'

- Somewhere - Mr. Speaker!

- The President of the United States! - Beyond the sea

She's there watching for me

If I could fly like birds on high

Then straight to her arms I'd go sailin'

Mr. Webb, Dr. Gilruth is here.

- Bob. - Hey.

He's just gettin' into it now.

Good. Can you turn it up, please, Jim?

Their large rocket engines which gives them many months of lead time...

and recognizing the likelihood that they will exploit...

this lead sometime to come...

in still more impressive success.

We, nevertheless, are required...

to make new efforts on our own.

For, while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first...

we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last.

I therefore ask the Congress...

beyond the increases...

I have earlier requested for space activities...

to provide the funds which are needed to meet the following national goals.

First, I believe that this nation should commit itself...

to achieving the goal before this decade is out...

of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

There can be no space project in this period...

that will be more impressive to mankind...

or more important for the long-range exploration of space...

and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.

- Whoa, buster. - They sure didn't waste any time.

If we had gotten Shepard into space before Gagarin, it'd be over.

We'd have beaten them. That would have been that.

We wouldn't be talkin' about goin' to the moon for another 20 years.

Between this and the Bay of Pigs--

Does anybody want my job?

That five-page memo from L.B.J....

pressing us to do it by 1967.

Before we get anywhere near the moon...

we'll need to put thousands of man-hours into space.

So far we got 15 minutes and 22 seconds.

I'm serious now. Who here wants my job?

Bob, can we do this?

We'll need thousands of people...

special facilities...

technology and material that haven't been invented yet.

Yeah.

Can we do it?

Put a man on the moon in nine years.

Yes.

Absolutely.

We have to.

Damn.

All right, here's what we're gonna have to do, folks...

to get a man to the moon...

ahead of the Soviets.

We've all been planning, meeting, talking, dreaming, but here...

is the brass tacks...

so we're all on the same page.

To get a man to the moon, we first have to get him into...

orbit.

Our friends from Russia already did that. Good for them.

Popgun shot with Al Shepard was a nice start.

But we all know we don't get cigars for that one.

The Mercury flights comin' up will get us into orbit...

long enough for us to figure out how to stay up there for a bit.

We do that, we have objective number one made.

EVA, space walk.

Objective number two.

Once in orbit, we get out of the spacecraft. Go for a walk.

See if we can build a suit to protect a man outside.

See if he can maneuver, see if he can get back in.

We need this for emergencies, of course...

but we ain't goin' to the moon to sit inside and take pictures.

We're gonna walk around up there.

We'll need the equipment to allow a man to do that.

Rendezvous.

Two spacecraft meetin' up in orbit.

You wanna have fun? Come over to my house.

You stand in the backyard. I'll stand in the front yard.

You throw a tennis ball over my roof.

I'll try to hit it with a rock as it comes sailin' over.

That's what we're going to have to do.

Two spacecraft flyin' at 5 miles a second hundreds of miles up...

with a communication system spread all over the world...

like so many tradin' stamps.

Then...

we're gonna have to dock.

Join up.

Develop the specs and hardware for two spacecraft to first rendezvous...

then to come together all safe and stable.

Objective 5: long duration spaceflight.

Take two weeks to fly to the moon and back.

What is being in zero "G" that long gonna do to the human body?

Will the crews' hearts stop beating?

Will they be able to take a crap without foulin' up the flight controls?

I'm bettin' they can.

Still we need to prove it.

We need to prove them all...

proficiently over and over again.

We have to get so good at it...

that we bet the lives of our crews without flinching.

We get 'em up there. We accomplish the mission objectives...

and we get them back home every time.

Oh, there's one more thing.

You know those daring, dashing...

young throttle jockeys who call themselves astronauts?

Well, we're gonna need a whole bunch of new ones.

My name's Max Peck.

I believe you've got a room for me.

Yes, Mr. Peck. We've been expecting you.

Howdy.

I'm Max Peck, and I need a room.

Of course, Mr. Peck, and we've been holding one for you.

Good afternoon. I'm Max Peck.

Mr. Peck, of course.

Hi. I have a reservation for a single room. My name is Max Peck.

You're who?

Mr. Max Peck.

I don't think so.

No, really.

Yep, that's me. Good old Max Peck.

I'll handle this one, Sheila. Mr. Peck, how nice to see you.

I believe you're expected in the Corral Room up in the Mezzanine.

You guys are drinkin' in bad company if Pete Conrad's buyin'.

Good God, not Jim Lovell.

Space program isn't safe if shaky here can pass muster.

- Good to see ya, Pete. - Jim, come on in.

- Hi, Jim Lovell. - Ed White.

- Here's Jim McDivitt. - Hello, Jim.

- It's a pleasure. - Elliott See.

- Pleasure. - Nice to meet ya.

- It's Frank Borman. - Hello, Frank.

- Tom Stafford, John Young. - Nice to meet ya.

What's the point of havin' top-secret code names if we ain't gonna use 'em?

Well, heck, what'd I say, Jim Lovell? I meant Max Peck.

- Makes a lot more sense. - Nice to meet ya.

So I say, "Who is it?" She says, "He won't say."

I say, "Well, ask again." She says, "I did."

He was sure it was Dialin' For Dollars.

Well, I get to the phone, and it's--

"Jim, this is Deke Slayton. Would you be interested in flyin' for us?"

I said, "Well, Deke, let me think about that. Yes."

- Yeah, how soon do you want me? - Exactly.

Think about it. He's in training for his Mercury mission.

Yanked from the flight line. Boom. Just like that he's grounded.

Yeah, well, some doctor had a piece of paper saying...

"Deke Slayton shouldn't fly because of something called heart fibrillations."

Doesn't everybody's heart fibrillate?

I'm guessin' it'll be a variation on military rotation for Gemini.

You know, you back up prime crew.

You skip a couple of flights and then end up prime yourself.

Gettin' on that rotation in the first place? That's the trick.

The original seven's gonna fly way before any of us new nine.

So, now, Deke Slayton's runnin' the office. Carpenter's history.

John Glenn's leaving NASA. He's gonna run for president someday, I think.

If he leaves, he's got my vote.

I don't know. What do ya think? Will Glenn be satisfied with just president?

Let's ask Armstrong.

Hey, Neil, would you vote for John Glenn for president?

Glenn for president, huh?

That would depend. Who'd be runnin' for king?

A great leader is dead.

A great nation must move on.

And as we bow our heads in submission to divine providence...

let us also thank God...

for the years that He gave us inspiration...

through His servant, John F. Kennedy.

And to honor his memory and the future of the works that he started...

I have today determined that Station Number One...

of the Atlantic Missile Range...

and the NASA Launch Operation Center in Florida...

shall hereafter be known as the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

If there is a word that expresses the Washington reaction...

to the Russian space spectacular today, the word is admiration.

The actual getting out of the capsule itself was more or less...

the next thing to happen.

A more accurate word might be envy.

Soviet scientists are talking now in terms of landing a man on the moon.

It was going to happen sooner or later. It was just a question of when.

The Russians started ahead of us in space ventures. They have been ahead.

What they did today proves they are still ahead.

The Gemini capsule would certainly be equipped to perform the same type--

On the fourth flight, which could come late this year...

one of the American pilots will step outside.

Extravehicular activity!

That's just a fancy way of saying, "Let's go outside for a walk."

The trouble is, it's cold out in space.

See? Even chilly. Freezing!

And, there is no air to breathe out here.

That's right, Woody. If Americans are ever to walk on the moon...

the deadly vacuum of space must first be conquered.

- Captain See? - Captain's not necessary.

I'm a civilian.

We're having our P.T.A. book fair on the 22nd.

We would love it if NASA could arrange another astronaut visit.

I'd be happy to pass this along to the Pubic Affairs Office.

When I told the kids Astronaut Elliott See was coming, they all said, "Who?"

They think every astronaut is John Glenn.

But I'm sure they will be glued to the TV when you make your space shunt.

With such a suit, why, anyone could take a walk in space...

or even a walk on the moon.

There you are, snug as a bug in a rug--

for a penguin, I mean.

Hey, where are you goin'?

My suit's at 3.5 p.s.i. and holding.

Great.

Yeah, mine's just about the same.

All right, you dirty dog, ready to go ahead and finish with the cabin depress?

- Yeah, I'm ready. - All right. Let's go.

- Hawaii, Houston Flight. - Go, Flight.

Tell him we're ready to have him come out when he is.

Roger. Understand.

- Delta, give us a mark. - Gemini Four, CAPCOM.

Come on out, Ed. Make us all look good.

Gemini Four, CAPCOM. You are good for EVA on your mark.

Okay, I'm separating from the spacecraft.

Okay, my feet are out.

I think I'm draggin' a little bit, but I don't wanna fire the gun yet.

Okay, I put a little roll in there. It took me right out.

- Am I in your view, Jimbo? - Ed, I can't see through the window.

Don't sweat it. I'm comin' over to you.

There goes what looks like a thermal glove.

- That's what it is, Ed. - All right.

I'm comin' above the spacecraft now.

It looks like we're comin' up on the coast of California.

I'm under my own control.

There's no disorientation associated with it. None.

Okay, I'm kickin' down underneath the spacecraft.

It's all very soft.

Particularly as long as you move nice and slow.

I feel very thankful to have the experience to be doin' this.

- You look beautiful, Ed. - I feel like a million dollars.

Gemini Four, Houston CAPCOM.

Gemini Four, Houston CAPCOM.

Just for the record, Flight, he's been out twice as long as Leonov.

Very good. They're runnin' out of daylight up there.

CAPCOM, let's get him back in now.

I don't know exactly where we are, but it looks like we're...

back over Texas again.

As a matter of fact, yeah, that looks a lot like Houston down there.

Hey, Gus, I don't know if you read, but we're over Houston.

Why don't you run out and take a look?

Yeah, that's Galveston Bay right there.

I could stay out here all day.

Let's see what the Flight Director says.

Flight Director says get back in.

Tell that son of a bitch to get back in.

Gemini Four, Houston.

Gus, this is Jim. Do you got any message for us?

- Gemini Four, get back in. - Okay.

Ed, Houston wants you to come back in.

- Back in? - Roger that.

Been talkin' for a while.

Comin' in.

This is the saddest moment of my life.

All right.

Ladies and gentlemen, Commander Roger Chaffee...

is from the third class of brand-new astronauts.

He's flown in special from Houston to tell us all how America...

is gonna beat the Russians to the moon.

Who the hell is Roger Chaffee?

- I came to see a real astronaut. - He's an astronaut.

He just hasn't been up yet.

He ain't flown outer space yet. He ain't no astronaut.

Thank you very much.

Ed White's extravehicular activity cleared a major hurdle.

Man can work in the vacuum of outer space...

and in a few years, on the surface of the moon.

Just last December, Borman and Lovell in Gemini 7 were met in orbit...

by Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra of Gemini 6.

But what they didn't do was literally link up or dock.

This NASA has yet to accomplish.

To do that, we have to develop...

a special docking mechanism...

which we have here in diagram form.

You know, I--

I brought along someone who I think can explain all of this...

one heck of a lot better than I can.

Blastoff!

That's good.

I just remembered. I'm allergic to cheese.

Now comes the hard part: getting back home.

The lunar lander will fly up from the moon...

and have to not only find the orbiting capsule...

but actually grab onto it.

- Howdy, fuzz! - Hey! Hello!

And home we go!

This is Emmett Seaborn with a special bulletin from St. Louis.

American astronauts Elliott See and Charles Bassett...

have died in a crash of their T-38 jet aircraft.

The Gemini astronauts were flying to Lambert Field...

to inspect their space capsule at the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation...

when the plane carrying the two astronauts...

smashed into the roof of the assembly plant.

As crew of Gemini 9...

the pair were to have flown into space in early June.

-They tried to keep the field in view... -Give us a second, will you?

while doing a turnaround under the cloud ceiling and overshot the runway.

Elliott tried to land V.F.R. under that low overcast.

He hit the building and smashed into the park.

Of the plant where the spacecraft was being assembled. Good God!

It's a miracle more people weren't killed.

Does that mean we're pushin' too hard...

with our guys flyin' all over the country in bad weather?

These are pilots who have to fly through a lot worse than overcast skies.

It was an accident.

Two astronauts who hadn't even been in space yet are dead.

You don't think Congress is gonna ask me how somethin' like that happened?

They'll slow us down, cancel missions, just so they can look good.

This is the first time a backup crew is going to be going into space.

Are Stafford and Cernan gonna be ready for Gemini 9?

This is exactly why we have backup crews. Gene and Tom will be ready.

There are gonna be two very public funerals.

After which, the press is gonna have a field day...

about NASA wasting not just tax dollars but human lives.

Still, we dodged a bullet.

If See and Bassett had been killed during an actual space mission?

Congress would shut NASA down and Russia gets to the moon in a cakewalk.

We have Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott going up in Gemini 8 in two weeks.

There is no reason-- none-- to slip the launch.

We have to rendezvous and dock with Agena, otherwise we are way behind.

All right.

We go on just as we have to.

I'll fight it out with whoever tries to close us down in Washington...

if for no other reason then to buy time...

time to rack up a couple of successful missions...

so no one has anything to complain about.

But at the same time, gentlemen, let's all say some prayers...

for nothing else to go wrong.

Bus arm to dock.

Eight, CAPCOM, we copy.

C.D.A. Control, switch is off. Agena docking light is green.

Agena power light is green.

Gemini 8, we have telemetry solid.

Lookin' good on the ground. You're still go for docking.

Okay, contact light. We have capture and rigidizing.

Flight, we are docked with the Agena. It was really a smoothy.

Roger, Dave.

Hey, congratulations. This is real good.

You can't have the thrill down there that we have up here.

We have you at loss of signal in 10 seconds.

- We'll acquire over C.S.Q. - Very good.

The letters L.O.S. stand for "Loss Of Signal."

Armstrong and Scott are going to be out of communication...

as Gemini travels from the tracking station...

toward the one on board the ship, Coastal Sentry Quebec or C.S.Q.

Where are they now, Armstrong and Scott?

It looks as if they're just below the coast of India, crossing over.

Neil, we're rollin'. We're in a bank.

Plus 30 degrees. What the hell is this?

We shouldn't be moving like this.

I don't get it. I can't control it. Shut down the Agena.

I did. Command 400.

It's down.

Then what the hell is this?

Our rate is pickin' up. It's just gettin' worse.

Let's hope it's somethin' wrong with the Agena.

We better disengage.

You ready?

- Yes, sir. - Undock.

- Hey, Deke! - Hey, Pete.

Better get in here and do some work.

Work. I heard of that. Spelled with a "W," isn't it?

- I can't stop it. Wanna give it a try? - I got it.

Man, what is this?

- Gemini 8, C.S.Q. CAPCOM, how do you-- - We have serious problems here.

We're tumbling end over end.

We've separated from the Agena.

We're rolling up, and we can't turn anything off.

We are continuously increasing left roll.

- C.S.Q., Flight. - Go ahead, Flight.

Did he say he could not turn the Agena off?

No, he said that he separated from the Agena...

and is in a roll and he can't stop it.

His reg pressure is down to zero. Gemini 8, C.S.Q.

We are in a violent left roll here.

We can't turn the oams off, and we can't fire them.

-One of the oams has got to be stuck on. -I'm isolating the attitude system.

I'm shuttin' it down.

- Did I hear a stuck hand controller? - That's affirmative, Flight.

We can't seem to get any valid data here. They're in a violent tumble.

- What about the Agena? - Flight Surgeon!

Go ahead.

That roll's too violent, there's a danger of tunnel vision...

with the possibility of blacking out.

We can't take much more of this.

Not it. All we have left is the reentry control system, Dave.

We bring up the RCS, they'll abort the mission.

Not much choice here.

Good. You're bringin' it down.

We're regaining control of the spacecraft slowly on RCS direct.

Roger, Captain.

We're pulsing the RCS slowly here, tryin' to kill our roll rate.

Understand, Gemini. We show you maneuvering on your RCS. Affirmative.

All right, if they've brought up the RCS, then the flight's over.

That's mission rules. We gotta bring them in.

Gemini 8, C.S.Q. How much RCS have you used and are you just on one ring?

We are on one ring, trying to save the other ring.

We started out on two rings, but we are now on one ring.

- And the RCS? - Doesn't matter. End of story.

We bring 'em in.

- What about the RCS, Houston? - We're down to about 1,700 pounds--

- Recovery, are you getting all this? - Roger.

C.S.Q., Flight. Let's get that spacecraft sea-band beacon on.

Reentry sea-band beacon on.

We've lost contact with the spacecraft, Flight.

- Okay. We'll get 'em over Hawaii. - Let's hope so.

The reentry guidance program isn't in the computer...

so Dave will have to manually enter the pad, then verify the self-tests with us.

They can't do that and get secure in one orbit. They need some time.

- All right? - Right.

Two passes over Rose Knot Victor, then. They're the secondary recovery zones.

Let's bring them down in 7-3.

Na-ha Rescue 1, Gemini 8.

They ain't out there.

Three- to five-foot waves, sure.

They didn't say anything about these swells.

The fumes from the heat shield really helped.

You think they even know we're here, Neil?

Not to worry, Dave. If nothing else, we'll just float along to China.

Oh, God, give me that bag.

Na-ha Rescue 1, this is Gemini 8.

Neil Armstrong did everything a pilot should.

He probably saved the space program in the process.

But I want a Mercury veteran to fly the first Apollo mission, Gus.

It's simple as that. A brand-new spacecraft.

Who'd be the choices for my crew? I want the best, Deke.

I was thinkin' of Donn Eisele, but then he went and broke his shoulder...

in the vomit comet, so--

-What about Ed White? -Eddie? I'll take him. Who else you got?

I'm impressed with Roger Chaffee.

He flew photo missions over Cuba during the missile crisis.

He's smart too.

Wears down the engineers when he starts talkin' about their systems.

And there's one last thing, Gus, about the rotation.

We won't know the flight schedule for some time.

But I'd sure like to have one of the original Mercury astronauts...

still flying when Apollo makes that first moon landing.

Interesting you should say that, Deke.

Just so happens, I'm one of the original Mercury astronauts.

The Russians?"

Roger Chaffee is a rookie astronaut chosen...

out of a field literally of thousands.

Ed White is a veteran astronaut.

He's made our first space walk back on Gemini 4.

Gus Grissom, the Apollo 1 commander, has already flown...

both Mercury and Gemini spacecraft.

This three-man crew and the engineers...

are well into the development and training phase...

of Apollo procedures and hardware.

We are winning the space race.

We have not only caught up with the Soviets...

we have surpassed them in many areas.

We have kept men in space longer.

We have achieved orbital rendezvous of two spacecraft...

and the docking of two vehicles in orbit.

These are not only firsts in their own right...

but important steps to our long-range goal...

of landing on the moon with the Apollo program.

Miss Hedges, a follow-up.

Should the Russians beat us to the moon, Mr. Webb...

will the costly Apollo program be continued?

Landing the first man on the moon is the priority of NASA...

and the American taxpayers who are footing the bill.

I do not see their support wavering until we do so.

Gavin O'Rourke.

Mr. Webb, NASA achievements and taxpayer will aside...

are we gonna beat the Russians in this contest?

Will the United States put the first man on the moon?

It is my job and the job of 400,000 men and women around the country...

to see to it that we do.

We have ignition.

We have liftoff.

And liftoff!

There it is!

America is one step closer to the moon with the launch of Gemini 12.

Flight Commander Jim Lovell is a veteran astronaut.

Pilot Edwin Aldrin makes his first journey into space.

From Houston, Science Editor Emmett Seaborn.

In one of the luckiest coincidences of this space program...

Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, who had worked on orbital rendezvous...

for his doctoral thesis at M.I.T....

was seated in the right-hand seat of Gemini 12...

when the onboard computer refused to accept data from the rendezvous radar.

Using an 8-power sexton and charts...

developed in the case of just such a malfunction...

Aldrin guided Commander Jim Lovell to a successful rendezvous and docking...

with the Agena target vehicle.

This was an important moment for NASA...

as it proves the skills honed during the 10 Gemini missions...

can overcome potentially catastrophic problems...

problems that could arise on a flight as crammed as Gemini 12.

In four days, the crew is expected to dock...

twice more with the Agena...

using its rocket engine...

to send them into an even higher orbit around the Earth.

Three space walks...

Dr. Rendezvous himself Buzz Aldrin will perform experiments...

photograph star fields...

and remain outside the capsule longer than any astronaut to date...

using modified handrails and equipment specifically designed...

for work in zero gravity.

For Lovell, who will remain inside the spacecraft...

these four days of orbiting the Earth...

together with the 14 days aboard Gemini 7...

will make him the most traveled man in history.

Jimbo, gonna clean your windshield.

Hey, Buzz, check the oil too, would ya?

And so the curtain rings down on this second act of man's voyage to the moon.

NASA officials are confident that the third act-- Project Apollo--

will place a human being in the form of an American astronaut...

on the moon sometime before midnight...

New Year's Eve, 1969.

From Houston, I'm Emmett Seaborn.

- Good morning. - How ya doin'?

Some crowd, huh?

They all think you're gonna announce your return to the flight rotation.

You can announce mine while you're at it.

- At least I can teach a couple of 'em. - Yes, you could.

Owen Maynard and the Mission Operations Division...

has laid out a plan for the series of Apollo flights...

that will lead up to the landing on the moon.

Each of these missions has a letter.

The "A" and "B" missions will be unmanned tests.

The "C" mission will be the first manned flight...

of the command and service module.

Gus, Ed and Roger in Apollo 1.

The "D" mission will be the first dual flight of the C.S.M....

with the lunar module in low Earth orbit to test it out.

The "E" mission will do the same in high Earth orbit for reentry procedures.

The "F" mission will go all the way to lunar orbit with the LEM but won't land.

That will be the objective of whoever takes the first "G" mission.

Now, each of these missions must be successfully completed...

before we can move on to the next type of mission.

If we have problems with the rendezvous radar...

or the backpacks or the retracting probe...

we will go to a D-1 or a D-2 or even a D-3 mission...

before we attempt the first "E" mission.

So, even though there are only five manned missions laid out...

it does not necessarily mean that the fifth group...

will make the first landing...

which brings me to the point of this meeting.

Assembled here are those of you that are left...

from the original seven Mercury astronauts...

as well as the new nine or the next nine...

or whatever you guys call yourselves...

and some of the third group.

The crew assignments that will be made concern you in the following manner.

The men in this room...

will be making moon landings.

Two of you will be first.

I don't know which two that will be.

But I do know that the first man to walk on the moon...

walked into this room today and he's looking at me right now...

as well as the second...

the third and the fourth and so on.

Just thought you might wanna know that.

That is all, gentlemen.

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.

Okay, Command Pilot, how do you read?

I read you loud and clear.

Read me?

You're pretty garbled here, Gus.

Senior Pilot, can you hear us?

Yeah, coming through loud and clear.

Okay, Ed, you're worse than Gus. How 'bout you, Roger?

Okay, pilot reads you five by five.

Roger, you are just a little bit better.

Better than Ed or better than Gus?

Better than both.

That's what I always say.

Gus, what we'd like to do is use strictly S-band communications.

See if we can clear this up.

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

We're all now in the S-band.

That's real clean, Gus.

Let's try one more and maybe we can make the run.

Okay. This is the command pilot.

One, two, three, four, five.

You're garbled, but I think we can get through like this.

Senior Pilot, one more time, please.

Roger. Senior pilot's transmitting.

One, two, three, four.

I have senior pilot.

We're not copying anybody five by.

We've tried about every mode.

We never did hear the pilot.

Pilot hasn't talked yet. How's this?

One, two, three, four, five.

Okay, roger. You're all comin' in about the same.

Okay, SDC.

If you run into many more communications problems-- We're down. Copy?

Steve, I need you at the phone.

I didn't read you, Chuck, at all.

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

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

Didn't read you. Can you repeat?

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

I said, how are we gonna get to the moon...

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

- Okay, that's a little better, Chuck. - Give us a count on black-three.

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

Okay. You want us to sit by here till we get this stuff squared away?

Uh, Chuck, I didn't read--

Test countdown hold continues at T minus ten.

Apollo 1, how do you read?

Apollo 1, how do you read?

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

We're gonna get a new backup system.

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

A lot of string.

Really getting ridiculous.

Sounds like we got an open mike.

- We better find it. - Fire!

We got a fire in the cockpit!

- Did he say "fire"? - On the monitor!

We got a bad fire!

We keeping you from something, Stormy?

Rick's rehearsal dinner. I promised Phyllis I wouldn't be late.

Sure she's never heard that before.

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

Mr. Shea, I was just trying the house.

I thought you were going straight home from the airport.

I have a couple of 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 goin' on?

We lost the crew.

There was a fire. The crew is--

They're dead.

Jan.

Would you like a sedative, Betty?

- Something-- - No, thank you.

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

I don't wanna be zonked out on pills.

Better go call Gus' folks.

Martha, Mike Collins is here.

Just so you know, Joe...

the suits failed but they--

The doctors said they didn't burn to death.

It was the smoke.

They were asphyxiated.

Hello? Anybody home?

Mom? Dad?

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 havin' so many problems with the communications system...

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

So up until breakfast this mornin'...

Joe Shea and I were gonna flip a coin to see who got to ride with the guys.

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

We could fit one person across the cabin underneath the foot rail.

Whichever one of us is going in there...

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

Which won't be much.

Approximately.

Approximately?

We can't patch you into the cabin comm lines.

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

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...

there really wasn't much point.

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

Joe flew back to Houston and I went for the pad.

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

I usually don't.

Think I just really wanted to ride in the spacecraft.

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

But, anyway.

I'm kinda concerned about Joe.

I saw him up at the tower...

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

How are you handling it?

I'm drunk.

The thing is--

You and I...

we both know that people die....

testing unproved aircraft.

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 three brave Americans.

That's it.

That's it for now.

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.

Turns out it's a dangerous waste of money.

For five, six years, 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--

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.

As far as I'm concerned...

I didn't come here from Langley to put a good face on this for my employers.

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 going to 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.

I want you to head up the panel...

responsible for dismantling the spacecraft.

Sorry I'm late.

Got a call from Joe Shea.

Stormy, he had a good idea.

If 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.

Fine.

- We're gonna help them any way we can. - I know.

But we've also gotta get the block twos ready to fly.

Anything else?

Do you think they're gonna try to nail us for this?

How can they nail us, 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 have gotten out. It's an inward opening hatch.

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

would have 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 outta there in a second.

Remember when Gus' 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.

Got a bad fire!

Got a bad fire!

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 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.

Counterclockwise rotation. Twenty-two pounds torque.

Release at 22.5.

Confirmed. Panel 209 mount: upper right.

Threading intact. No visible marking.

22.5. Noted.

Hold on. I think you're gonna want to see this.

It's a socket wrench.

We found it behind the panel door.

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

There's no other reasonable explanation for it.

Socket wrench?

Did it have anything to do with the fire?

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.

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 to talk to us.

We're going to be writing this report in the next three weeks...

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

Stormy, let's start with you.

- I'm sure you've seen this. - Yes, I've seen that.

Leaving that wrench in those wires...

was careless and sloppy.

When we find the person responsible...

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.

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.

We listened at first.

But after a while, we had to stop listening.

The good old days of Mercury and Gemini are gone.

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.

The smallest change has huge ramifications.

Mercury missions. You launched, orbited, came back down.

Hell, 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...

that you astronauts have asked us to do...

all I can say is, "Guilty as charged!"

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

You're damn right. It's an ambush!

You say you've 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've got a couple.

You wanna tell them the real reason for the wiring problems?

How NASA keeps changing mission requirements...

yet you push us to meet these arbitrary deadlines.

We never made changes regarding Velcro.

What?

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

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

- I wasn't aware that was a problem. - Of course you were aware!

We talked about it last August.

You guys got any other complaints?

No steering wheel, huh?

How about the tinted windows, maybe some power steering?

No, no problem.

We do have a couple of other things before we can take off.

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. How did this happen?

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

When you get up in zero "G," crap starts floating around.

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

Then maybe there's just a few too many bits of it in there.

So wherever Velcro is...

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

Sure. Yeah.

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!

I think it's time you and your friends at NASA took a 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 space flight, you had to add some p.s.i.

You guys tanked up that spacecraft...

with almost 17 pounds per square inch of pure oxygen.

At 17 p.s.i. 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!

Well, this time something did go wrong.

You told us there wouldn't be any ignition sources!

And we begged you not to test in high pressure!

All right.

Sorry.

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.

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 the 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 the current went through the wire, there was an arc and--

You've heard the rest.

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

Yes.

Disassembly of the Apollo 1 command module...

was completed at the Kennedy Space Center...

on March 27, 1967, during the first shift.

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

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

They're nailing us. They're saying it was all our fault.

There's a couple of references to the fact that maybe...

testing in highly pressurized pure oxygen might be a bit dangerous...

but other than that, we get our butt kicked.

- We gotta let 'em 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.

We are going to forget about those files.

We can't blame NASA.

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, beg forgiveness...

and we promise it will never happen again.

We do not fight back.

And we forget those files exist.

What files?

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.

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

unscathed.

I'm okay. I'm fine.

It's just that we got a lot of people worried about you.

Yeah? Well.

I'm just a little overtired.

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

Did you 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.

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

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

but 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?

I don't know.

A lot of people heard you say that...

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

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

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. What would they like me to do?

I don't know.

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

Take a break.

Just a leave of absence. A couple of weeks and get some rest.

Come on, Joe.

- You said yourself you were overtired. - I got a lot of work to do.

You see that desk there?

Then maybe--

I just think maybe you oughta just talk to somebody.

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. A couple of psychiatrists.

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

But I'm not leaving the program voluntarily till we get to the moon!

I'm gonna come right to the point.

We got letters from the two psychiatrists.

It seems--

It seems like you passed with flyin' colors.

One of those psychiatrists complained that seein' you was a waste of time.

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

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.

NASA is about more...

than just goin' to the moon.

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

I want you to be 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.

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

What do you say?

What do I say?

How soon you want me?

- How does now sound? - That sounds great.

We got kids in school--

You don't have to decide right now.

Go back to the hotel, phone your wife, talk about it.

I'll call you tomorrow. All right?

Thanks.

Call you tomorrow.

- You talk to Joe? - Yeah.

- Did he bite? - Mm-hmm.

And I feel like a complete and utter heel.

It had to be done. We had to get him outta the way before the hearings.

- They'd have torn him to shreds. - I don't know.

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

I'll see you in the mornin'.

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 27.

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

The contractor is responsible in some measure.

Wasn't that a failure?

Did you ever 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.

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.

It seems that...

my colleagues have asked all the questions I was going to ask.

Except one.

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?

I'm not aware of it, sir.

Is it then your testimony that no such unusual...

General Phillips report existed?

Is this rumor unfounded?

That's something we gotta take a look at.

Let us look it up, sir.

Is there somethin' somebody forgot to tell me?

- It was a memo. 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 gonna be damaging to us!

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

The only reason 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 before we even got off the damn launchpad.

We still don't know what Anderson's thinking.

He can steer the committee any way he wants.

Where were you this morning? He's got us twisting in the wind.

It's understandable. 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's some members of the review board.

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

That's good. Everybody loves an astronaut.

Come on. Are you kidding me?

You really think Frank Borman is gonna paint a rosy picture?

It could have been him in that spacecraft and he knows it.

You're right.

Where you goin'?

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.

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?

I'll tell you what I want, Mr. Webb.

I want there to be no 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.

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?

Were there defects in workmanship?

There were.

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?

Sometimes there are...

romantic, silk-scarfed notions attributed to this business...

but we're professionals.

We will accept risk, certainly...

but not undue risk.

Let me rephrase the question.

Knowing what you know now...

would you have entered that spacecraft?

How did Commander Grissom and his crew...

feel about the readiness of the vehicle?

I talked to Ed White shortly before the accident.

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

Didn't Commander Grissom once hang a lemon...

on the simulator?

You had to know Gus.

Did Commander Grissom hang a lemon on the simulator?

Yes, sir.

Tell us about him, Colonel.

Sorry. I just have a couple of quick questions.

Will you yield for a minute or two?

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

You just said "You had to know Gus."

I think that's been missing in here...

this past two days.

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

about the men who perished in that fire.

Could you do that for us?

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.

If that gives you the impression that Gus was a cranky S.O.B....

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.

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 being 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.

Roger Chaffee I--

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.

He saw a group of men standing in a corner.

He found out these were the fellows...

that make the tools that make the machines.

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

But Roger made them feel like the most important part of the program.

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 hoping someone would ask that.

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

but 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.

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.

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.

When it happened they were waiting...

for the test to resume.

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

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?

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

because it was behind a panel door...

down below Gus' feet.

Because of the oxygen, the spark was able to jump out...

into 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!

By now the temperature and the pressure were astronomical.

Let's get out!

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.

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 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, the test would have been classified as hazardous.

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

Whose fault is that?

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?

I think you should stop this witch hunt...

and let us go to the moon.

Please.

Back to you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have nothing further.

Thank you, Colonel.

Those are beautiful.

Well, thank you, dear.

Who called?

- He wants to see me. - On a Sunday?

I think this is it.

I wanted to see it through to the landing.

Oh, damn it.

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

They said I wouldn't have to report to anyone.

Trouble is there's no one to report to me either.

- What do you do? - I go to the movies, museums.

There's a lot of damn fine museums in this town.

- Did you know that? - Yeah, I think I've heard that.

- What's next? - I'm gettin' out.

Join a company in Boston. How about you?

They moved me over to the brake yard. I'm still a V.P., but--

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

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, sense of relief.

Relief?

Everyone knew an accident was inevitable.

I know.

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

I said to them 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 have done something different.

There's nothing you could have done.

I could have been in the cockpit that day.

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' feet, right?

If I'd been on the spacecraft that day...

I would have been lying below the footrest...

right there where it started.

I figure I had a 50-50 chance of putting it 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, and each time that happened I wanted to die.

But I've learned that you gotta let go...

of the what ifs.

They're meaningless.

And they'll kill you.

Yeah.

Really meant a lot your coming by.

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

I got mine up in the den.

Yeah?

I'm thinking about the front hall.

You had to know it was Gus' idea.

Take care.

- Good luck. - You too.

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. - 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 just a little something from us.

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

Plain brown paper. I'm a little nervous.

Why am I frightened for my life?

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

Probably designs for the power steering.

That's great.

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

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

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 don't wanna call it Apollo 1 anymore because it never flew.

They're gonna call it Apollo 20--

204. That was the internal designation.

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

This is the reason we wanted to see you.

Open it.

It's an astronaut pin.

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

but they wanted you to know they considered you...

as much of an astronaut as any of them.

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

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