The Cosmosphere 2017: part 3

I had intended to have a post ready, but I haven't been able to access my internet for nearly two days.  It's very frustrating, and I've made numerous calls to AT&T my internet and phone provider trying to get it straightened out.  They did lots on their end, and had me try various things on my end.   So instead of visiting my blogging peeps or making art, I was on the phone the better part of the day and night.  They finally got me on about an hour ago.  Consequently, that is why I haven't been by to visit, and why this post is so short and later than I normally post.  Now that I'm back online, I'm going to catch a couple hours sleep!

In case you missed part 1 and part 2, catch them at these links.

We have now entered the display area.  This mural caught my eye, but there was little time to linger, since we were off to our next adventure (after the flight simulator) and only had a few minutes to get there.  We had spent way too much time in the lobby.

While the others rushed ahead, I stopped to take photos of Apollo 1, the doomed first space craft that didn't even get off the ground.

The small TV screen that was on a loop showed the astronauts rookie Roger Chaffee,

veteran Gus Grissom, America's second man in space, who flew Mercury's Liberty Bell 7, which has since been restored and lives at the Cosmosphere,

and Ed White, the first American to walk in space.

Here they are on the pad prior to the pre-flight test.

You can read about the problems they encountered the day everything went wrong.  One of the main problems, not mentioned in the placard above, was Apollo was the third new spacecraft in just five years.   In the 50 plus years since, NASA has flown just one other crewed spacecraft: the Space Shuttle.  Faulty design, faulty wiring, and an unwillingness on the part of the astronauts to complain too loudly for fear of being booted from the program, led to this costly accident where these three astronauts were killed in the inferno of the cabin when pure oxygen ignited and wires caught on fire.

Pure oxygen was a key component in the fire.  As we learned later that day when we visited Dr. Goddard's Lab, pure oxygen under high pressure requires nothing more than a spark to ignite and rapidly burn.

Perhaps the accident was the best thing that could have happened to the space program.  The laziness of the developers, the carelessness of the builders, the poor attitude of NASA management, and the pressure to keep a certain timetable were all put aside after the fire took the lives of the three astronauts who died that day on the launchpad in Apollo 1.  Even the astronauts were given a say and if they didn't like what they saw, the manufacturer had to retest, even if it meant more time and money.   The fire forced a hard reset of a space program that had been rushing headlong toward the Moon, but had lost its way due to overconfidence. A better Apollo capsule was developed from that accident.

Even though there was still a push for speed, NASA learned to balance speed with safety.

A temporary exhibit that was added in January to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 1 displayed an emergency egress plan, a hat from a pad worker on site the day of the tragedy, and a schematic book that belonged to backup astronaut Walt Cunningham, who later flew on Apollo 7 (see two photos above).

But it was now time to walk down the long aisle of planets that make up our solar system.  There was lots to read and see, and little to no time to do so.  I can see why Joseph's sons were bored, even though Joseph and I patiently tried to answer their questions.

Our blue earth shares space with Apollo 12's lunar module replica that landed on the moon.  If you were here for part 2, you saw the full scale replica of the Lunar Module (LIM) of America's first lunar landing which was taken into space in Apollo 11.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the full scale Lunar Lander.  The original is housed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. 

This replica is for Apollo 12, the second moon landing.
 More details

and more models:

this time a model of the Mars Rover.  This is an exact replica of the Sojourner, which is 2 feet (65 centimeters) in length.  It's hard to imagine this tiny piece of equipment was launched in July, 1997 and sent data back to JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) for analysis until it became inactive about three months later.

But it was now time to put the wall of planets aside and enter Dr. Goddard's Lab.  I will share that show tomorrow, providing my internet is still humming along.

Thanks for joining me today.  I appreciate your visit and I appreciate your patience in my visit to your blog.  Thanks again, because I can't say it enough!