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This is part two of the documentary series "Washington Goes To The Moon." It is called "Trials and Fire" and it looks at the fire on board Apollo 1 that killed three astronauts and nearly derailed the space program. 

Today we understand better than ever that the exploration of space is a risky business. The explosions of the space shuttles Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 made that clear. But in 1967, most Americans saw space as nothing more than a big adventure. The danger seem beyond imagining.

In this program we go back to the disaster that almost derailed the Apollo program and America’s drive to put a man on the moon; the tragedy of Apollo 1. We look at how the fire revealed deep flaws in a NASA management structure that businesses and governments around the world viewed with envy and how NASA's attempts to cover over those flaws fed into Congressional distrust that almost crushed the space program.

Former Minnesota U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale played a key role in questioning if there was a NASA cover-up of an investigative report on the Apollo 1 tragedy. 

Documentary produced, written and narrated in 2006 by Richard Paul of WAMU, with funding from the National Science Foundation.

MPR News Staff

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Part two of the documentary series "Washington Goes To The Moon," called "Trials and Fire." It looks at the fire on board Apollo 1 that killed three astronauts and nearly derailed the space program. 

This is part 2 of the documentary series "Washington Goes To The Moon." It is called "Trials and Fire" and it looks at the fire on board Apollo 1 that killed three astronauts and nearly derailed the space program. 

Today we understand better than ever that the exploration of space is a risky business. The explosions of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 made that clear. But in 1967, most Americans saw space as nothing more than a big adventure. The danger seem beyond imagining.

 In this program we go back to the disaster that almost derailed the Apollo Program and America’s drive to put a man on the moon; the tragedy of Apollo One. We look at how the fire revealed deep flaws in a NASA management structure that businesses and governments around the world viewed with envy and how NASA's attempts to cover-over those flaws fed into Congressional distrust that almost crushed the Space Program.

Minnesota's US Senator Walter Mondale played a key role in questioning if there was a NASA coverup of an investigative report on the Apollo One tragedy. 

Documentary produced, written and narrated in 2006 by Richard Paul of WAMU, with funding from the National Science Foundation. 


Part 2 of the documentary series "Washington Goes To The Moon," called "Trials and Fire." It looks at the fire on board Apollo 1 that killed three astronauts and nearly derailed the space program.

Part II of 'Washington Goes to the Moon: Trials and Fire'

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