of the hatch. The hatch door was heavy, but Ed was a strong man and in excellent physical condition. He had practiced the egress drill numerous times, although never within the 90 seconds suggested by NASA’s engineers.
They started the drill around 1 p.m. and encountered more problems, including a communications microphone that would not turn off. The three astronauts were still inside the space capsule, perched atop the enormous Saturn rocket standing on Launch Pad 34, as darkness began to shroud Cape Canaveral.
It was then that something went horribly wrong. With all three astronauts buckled into their seats, and with a highly flammable, 100 percent oxygen–rich atmosphere inside the command module and flowing through their space suits, a fire broke out in the capsule. Investigators later thought the fire was caused by some sort of voltage surge or possibly an electrical short that produced a spark below the left equipment bay under Gus Grissom’s seat.
Like a blowtorch, the capsule erupted in flames. Just as he had trained, Ed White struggled to open the hatch, but this time, it was not a test and the astronauts did not even have the 90-second wiggle room. Within a minute, the command module ruptured, causing an outrush of gases and creating an inferno inside the capsule, followed by deadly concentrations of carbon monoxide. The three astronauts trapped in the wall of fire never had a chance.
Ironically, none of our previous astronauts in the Mercury or Gemini programs had ever incurred a scratch, and NASA’s most horrific space program accident took place not in space, but while the astronauts were still on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral. The Moon, which had seemed within reach a few hours earlier, now seemed out of sight.
Ed was my good friend and colleague; he was also a major part of my inspiration to become an astronaut. In a couple of minutes, his storied life was over. I never had a chance to thank him for all that he had meant to me, or to tell him goodbye, although two and a half years later, I carried with me to the Moon a medallion in his honor. In some way, I have tried to honor Ed by the path that I have pursued.
Life is a gift, and none of us has any guarantees about tomorrow, so don’t miss the opportunity to tell your friends and family members how much they mean to you. Take the time to make that phone call just to say hello, or to write that note of encouragement.
In this day of text messages, email, and social media communications, if you really want to make an impression on someone, write a handwritten note of thanks or encouragement.
OVER THE YEARS, I’VE BEEN PASSIONATE about trying to reunite all of our Apollo astronauts, but it has not been easy to get everyone together. I want them to care as much as I do. Some of them may feel that they no longer have much to contribute to the space program, so they aren’t as interested in talking about future exploration. On the other hand, I feel that I’m not done yet.
Apollo astronauts were friends, but it was tough to maintain a sense of normalcy, especially for the crew of Apollo 11, the first mission to land on the Moon. Most of the other guys in the Apollo program have remained close with their particular crews, but Neil, Mike, and I had a tougher time of it. At one point, Neil and I went years without seeing each other. Although we remained friends, we rarely got together socially, except at special U.S. presidential commemorations of the Apollo 11 mission, which have taken place at the White House every five years since the initial landing on the Moon.
Mike Collins and I still keep in touch, although at the beginning of every phone call, Mike is always quick to remind me, “Buzz, I don’t want to talk about Mars!”
“Okay, right, Mike. But you know that scientists at Purdue University have now proven that my Mars Cycler will work …”
“Buzz!”
On a trip to Arizona, I was talking with Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17 and currently known as “the last man to walk on the Moon,” about the future of space exploration, and I was getting on his case. “Gene, why are you advocating that we go back to the Moon? We don’t need to be competing with other countries to go to the Moon. Don’t you realize that we don’t have a