outline of research paper

　　　　　　　Apollo-204 Fire Accidents
I. Information for introduction: ( Frelman and Schlager, 1995, 133~139 )
Hook: Apollo-204 is also called Apollo-1, which was a routine test to prepare for landing men on the moon, but it failed on January 27, 1967 at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration( NASA ) base in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Thesis Statement: Apollo-204 caught on fire and caused the deaths of three astronauts in only 18 seconds because of technical failures and human failures
Map: The purpose of this speech is to explain the causes of the Apollo-204 disaster, which included technical failure and human errors; the solution which was proposed by the government; and the immediate effects.
II. Technical failure
Electrical wires short circuiting
Command: Full of pure oxygen ( Marcovitz,2000,2~3 )
Location: Near a bundle of wires in front of Grisom”s seat
Insulation protection of the copper and silver wire which was connected to the environment control unit: peeled off ( The Apollo Spacecraft- A Chronology, 1~ 4)
Wires: Repeated friction with the related door
Wires: Ran through Glycol and water cooling agent pipeline juncture
Glycol: released into the command
Chemical reaction: Glycol and silver
Glycol mixture: caught on fire
Burned in pure oxygen
Failure of cameras ( Kranz,2000,191~207 )
Showed some movements of astronauts: hard to see the exact movements
Astronauts: Could not communicate with the controllers
Failure of the operation of the door(hatch) ( Frelman and Schlager, 1995, 137~139 )
Could not open the door quickly enough:
The door: hard to be opened
III. Human errors
Quickly finished the job ( Frelman and Schlager, 1995, 133~139 )
Designing and making the spacecraft at the same time
113 engineering changes : not finished when the spacecraft was supposed to be tested (The Apollo Spacecraft- A Chronology, 24 )
623 items: needed to be changed after spacecraft was being tested ( Frelman and Schlager, 1995, 138 )
Controllers: Ran away at the beginning of the fire ( Abraham,1968,59~61)
Not enough gas masks for all of the controllers, just for a few of them
No tools for engineers to see in the dark smoke: working by touching
IV. The deaths of three astronauts (Marcovitz,2000,1~5 )
Names: Gus Grissom, Edward White, Roger B. Chaffee
The reason: short of oxygen, not from burns
Died in 18 seconds after they discovered the fire
Tried to open the door, but failed
Tried to connect with the command unit, but no answer
V. The Findings ( The Apollo Spacecraft- A Chronology, 4~5 )
　　A. fire: 1. came from Grissom’s seat
　　　　　　2. From left to right
B. 14 seconds after the first report of fire: (Marcovitz,2000,2 )
Command cabin sealed chamber: flamed out
Fire: bigger than before
VI. Solutions
Door (hatch) (Marcovitz,2000,2~3 )
Be opened from inside to outside
The design : can be opened in several seconds
Using some materials which were flame retandant
Plumbing and wiring: using protective insulation materials
Correcting over 1000 line problems: showng importance of the accident of Apollo 13 (The Apollo Spacecraft- A Chronology,9~12)
1. condensation of water in Apollo 13 while the command module turned off the power: not cause short circuit when start to re-enter the atmosphere ( Frelman and Schlager, 1995, 146~153 )
Using spacecraft with a coating of glass fiber (Marcovitz,2000,2~3 )
Immediate effects( Kranz,2000,200~207 )
Slowing down the process of The United States Space program
Loss of billions of dollars
Loss of three excellent astronauts
Cutting down the public confidence
Causing difficulty being the first country that led man to the moon
Conclusion
NASA wanted to use Apollo 1, a routine test, to test whether the spacecraft was ready to fly or not. The United States wanted to be the first country that led man to the moon. Because of the need to rush the project, NASA paid more attention to the machine and ignored the safety of astronauts. Because of that, the government lost three excellent astronauts and lost billions of dollars. The process of the United States space program was slowed down because of this accident.
　　　 Works Cited
Abraham, Karl. “Follow Up: NASA and the press a response.” Columbia Journalism Review ( Spring, 1968 ): 59~62. Print

Apollo Spacecraft- A Chronology: Part I. Vol. IV. Part I ( 1967 Mar/ Apr ).19 March, 2012
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/v4phlh.htm

Freiman, Fran Locher and Neil Schlager. Failed Technology: Apollo 1 Catches fire. UXL: An Imprint of Gale Research Inc,1995.

Kranz, Gene. Failure Is Not an Option: A Fire on the Pad. New York: Simon & Schster, 2000.

Marcovitz, Hal. “ Fire in the Cockpit” Science Reference Center. 2000. 19 March.2012
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery?sid=d7e251c9-le50-4933-8