Apollo 1 - 'Gus' Grissom Press Conference

[TimberWolfAu]

Hi,
This might seem a strange request or question, but is there any evidence that Grissom even held the press conference that gets mentioned when people talk about Apollo 1? I had a dig around, but without knowing specific dates and locations, or even what press would have been involved, it feels like a veritable needle.
Does anyone have some actual details regarding the Apollo 1 press conference?

Thanks,
TW

[raven]

https://sova.si.edu/record/nasm.xxxx.0138/ref814?s=0&n=10&t=A&q=%22Apollo+1+press+conference%22&i=0

These are some of what a quick Googling dug up as far as 'Apollo 1 press conferences' are concerned, but, I admit, I am not sure which one you mean.

[onebigmonkey]

https://sova.si.edu/record/nasm.xxxx.0138/ref814?s=0&n=10&t=A&q=%22Apollo+1+press+conference%22&i=0

These are some of what a quick Googling dug up as far as 'Apollo 1 press conferences' are concerned, but, I admit, I am not sure which one you mean.

There's a claim that Grissom held a press conference in  which he was critical of the Apollo hardware and set up, hence his untimely death. It's basically people running with the "hanging a lemon on the simulator" trope and running with it.

Obviously no such press conference exists, presumably because it has been expunged from the record by evil NASA types.

[raven]

Ah, but of course. It's a matter of public record that they all had concerns of about the Apollo 1 CSM so why such a press conference would be expunged when other critiques clearly were not is one of those questions that the surface level, at best, research, if you can call it that, so rarely can answer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1#/media/File:A1prayer.jpg

[TimberWolfAu]

There's a claim that Grissom held a press conference in  which he was critical of the Apollo hardware and set up, hence his untimely death. It's basically people running with the "hanging a lemon on the simulator" trope and running with it.

Obviously no such press conference exists, presumably because it has been expunged from the record by evil NASA types.

See I'm thinking no press conference, where Grissom, White, or Chaffee voiced their concerns about the Apollo program actually happened, that it's simply an urban legend attached to the Apollo mission, because a reason is needed for why NASA would 'remove' the crew in such a manner. Basically right up there with Armstrong's 'Good luck Mr Goresky' line.

I might be off here, but didn't the Mercury astronauts complain about the lack of manual controls/windows on the original Mercury capsule? I have recollection of a dramatisation movie regarding Mercury (was it 'The Right Stuff'?), and the astronauts had arranged to meet some of the higher ups to voice their desire for manual control and windows, and did so in front of press, but this might have been added for drama. Grissom was a Mercury astronaut, maybe that's where the idea came from, for the press conference about Apollo?

[bknight]

I'm not sure if there was any compliant by the Mercury astronauts about windows, but Gus's MR4 had the first window of the Mercury program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_4#:~:text=The%20MR%2D4%20spacecraft%2C%20Mercury,window%20instead%20of%20two%20portholes.
As far as manual control, I'm not sure when that started, but during Carpenter's flight ha used manual control so much that he used virtually all of his fuel.  As a result NASA installed a major objective/goal for Schirra's flight, ~twice as long as Glenn or Carpenter, was to conserve fuel and still perform the other objectives.  Schirra did so well that he proved fuel would last for Cooper's Day+ mission.

[Peter B]

Hi,
This might seem a strange request or question, but is there any evidence that Grissom even held the press conference that gets mentioned when people talk about Apollo 1? I had a dig around, but without knowing specific dates and locations, or even what press would have been involved, it feels like a veritable needle.
Does anyone have some actual details regarding the Apollo 1 press conference?

Thanks,
TW

I found something in Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon" (page 23 in my copy):

Sometime during Gemini, he had told his wife, "If there's ever a serious accident in the program, it's probably going to be me." And a few weeks ago [prior to the Apollo 1 fire], at a press conference, he had said, "If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business..." But he was talking about dying in space.

I'm sure hoax believers will put their preferred spin on Grissom's statement to his wife. But as the go-to astronaut for the first manned flights in Gemini and Apollo, it's obvious he meant that the first manned flight in a program was the riskiest.