Apollo 1 Fire
The Apollo 1 crew is conducting a 'plugs-out' test inside the command module, simulating launch conditions. Suddenly, a fire erupts in the pure oxygen environment, rapidly consuming the cabin.
Setting
Inside the Apollo 1 Command Module at Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The module is mounted atop the Saturn IB rocket, enclosed within the white service structure. The interior is cramped, filled with control panels, switches, and wiring.
Characters
Gus Grissom
primary
A 40-year-old astronaut with a compact, muscular build from years of military and spaceflight training. His face bears the weathered lines of experience, with close-cropped dark brown hair graying at the temples. His hands are calloused from years of working with spacecraft controls.
Ed White
primary
A 36-year-old astronaut with a lean, athletic build from his military and athletic background. His face is clean-shaven with sharp features and intense brown eyes. Short-cropped dark brown hair slightly tousled from the headset he wears. His hands are calloused from years of flight training.
Roger Chaffee
secondary
A 31-year-old astronaut of average height with a lean, athletic build. His short brown hair is neatly cut in military fashion, and his clean-shaven face bears the focused expression of a man deeply engaged in his work. His blue eyes are sharp and attentive, scanning the instrument panel with precision.
Technician
secondary
A young, clean-shaven man in his late 20s with short-cropped brown hair, wearing thick-rimmed glasses. His lean build suggests a background in engineering or physics rather than athletics. His hands show calluses from handling equipment, and there's a slight furrow between his brows from prolonged concentration.
Pad Leader
background
A stern, middle-aged man with a square jaw and deep-set eyes, his face lined from years of stress under the Florida sun. His short-cropped military-style haircut is graying at the temples, and his posture is rigid with authority. He wears thick-framed glasses that reflect the glare of the control room lights.
Dialog
Gus Grissom
Houston, we've got a fire in the cockpit.
Ed White
Copy that. ECS showing rapid temp rise—main bus voltage fluctuating.
Roger Chaffee
Primary comm loop's down! Secondary... secondary's—
Gus Grissom
Chaffee, focus. Get me oxygen flow on my mark. White—hatch release.
Ed White
Negative release—mechanism's jammed. Applying manual override.
Roger Chaffee
Smoke... can't see the—systems failing across the board!
Gus Grissom
God damn it. Brace positions. Now.