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Apollo Astronaut Was Murdered, Son Charges
Christopher Ruddy
February 11, 1999
Virgil I. "Gus Grissom, the astronaut slated to be the first man to
walk on the moon, was murdered, his son has charged in the February 16
edition of STAR magazine.
In another stunning development, a lead NASA investigator has charged
the agency engaged in a cover-up of the true cause of the catastrophe
that killed Grissom and two other astronauts.
The tabloid exclusive by Steve Herz reports that Scott Grissom, 48,
has gone public with the familys long held belief that their father
was purposefully killed during Apollo I.
The January 27, 1967, Apollo I mission was a simulated launch in
preparation for an actual lunar flight.
NASA concluded the Apollo I deaths of Grissom, as well as astronauts
Edward H. White and Roger Chafee, were the result of an explosive fire
that enveloped the pure oxygen atmosphere of the space capsule. NASA
investigators could not identify what caused the spark, but wrote the
catastrophe off as an accident.
"My fathers death was no accident, he was murdered, Grissom, a
commercial pilot, told STAR.
Grissom said he recently was granted access to the charred capsule and
discovered a "fabricated metal plate located behind a control panel
switch. The switch controlled the capsules electrical power source
from an outside source to the ships batteries. Grissom argues that the
placement of the metal plate was an act of sabotage. When the one of
the astronauts toggled the switch to transfer power to the ships
batteries, a spark was created igniting a fireball.
Clark Mac Donald, a McDonnell-Douglas engineer hired by NASA to
investigate the fire, offered corroborating evidence. Breaking more
than three decades of silence, Mac Donald alleges that he determined
an electrical short caused by the change over to battery power had
caused the fire.
He says that NASA destroyed his report and interview tapes in an
effort to stem public criticism of the space program.
"I have agonized for 31 years about revealing the truth but I didnt
want to hurt NASAs image or cause trouble, Mac Donald told the paper.
"But I cant let one more day go by without the truth being known.
Grissoms widow, Betty, now 71, told STAR she agrees with her sons
claim that her husband had been murdered.
"I believe Scott has found the key piece of evidence to prove NASA
knew all along what really happened but covered up to protect funding
for the race to the moon.
Scott Grissom told STAR the motive for his fathers killing may have
been related to NASAs desire not have his father be the first man to
walk on the moon because of criticism leveled at Grissom in 1961 after
his Gemini capsule, Liberty 7, sunk in the Atlantic.
Critics of Grissom, including novelist Tom Wolfe, have claimed Grissom
panicked when his space capsule landed in the ocean, and he
prematurely pulled an explosive charge to open the ships hatch,
causing it to sink.
Fellow astronauts, however, gave Grissom the benefit of the doubt for
several reasons. Grissom was a decorated Korean war pilot who had
flown nearly 100 combat missions. He was a courageous man not known to
panic.
There was also evidence that the explosive device on the hatch could
accidentally blow without being pulled -- a fact that led NASA to
remove such devices from future spacecraft.
Also, had Grissom pulled the explosive release on the hatch, his hand
or arm should have had powder and bruise marks. Neither were found.
Grissom, one of the original Mercury seven, was the senior astronaut
when the Apollo missions began.
Among the astronauts, Grissom was the most critical of the
problem-plagued Apollo program, and the main Apollo contractor, North
American Aviation.
Shortly before his death, Grissom had taken a large lemon and hung it
around the space capsule as the press looked on. He had suggested
publicly that the project could never be accomplished on time.
The Associated Press reported, "Pretty slim was the way [Grissom] put
his Apollos chances of meeting its mission requirements.
The Grissom family had reason to doubt the official NASA ruling from
the beginning. Even before Apollo I, Grissom had received death
threats which his family believed emanated from within the space
program.
The threats were serious enough that he was put under Secret Service
protection and had been moved from his home to a secure safe house.
According to his wife, Grissom had warned her that "if there is ever a
serious accident in the space program, its likely to be me.
The Apollo I disaster led to a series of Congressional hearings into
the incident and NASA. During the hearings, one launch pad inspector,
Thomas Baron, sharply criticized NASA's handling of the incident and
testified that the astronauts attempted to escape the capsule earlier
than officially claimed.
Baron was fired soon after giving the testimony, and died, along with
his wife, when his car was struck by a train. Authorities ruled the
deaths as suicide.
During the Congressional hearings, Senator Walter Mondale questioned
the efficacy of manned space programs. Manned space flights were
opposed by many of the leading space scientists at the time, including
Drs. James Van Allen and Thomas Gold.
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