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288 Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries
rocket planes, entailed serious efforts to go higher and faster than the other
guy. For good technical reasons neither we or the Russians played that
game. To this day our Shuttle flights are limited to very near space usually
well under 200 miles in altitude.
Most writers on the Apollo Program either totally ignored, or played
down, the fact that by early January 67, Grissom, was no longer a happy
camper. He was very disenchanted with both NASA and the prime capsule
contractor, North American Aviation. This company had a phoenixlike
ability to weather every storm, including the fire on Pad 34. It ultimately
combined with Rockwell Engineering to become North American
Rockwell.
GRISSOM'S LEMON
North American Rockwell's first Apollo capsule had been delivered and
accepted by NASA in August 66, with a flight date set for November. But
time after time the date had to be reset because of problems with the craft.
"Grissom, a veteran of two test flights in Mercury and Gemini, normally
quiet and easy-going, a flight pro, could not hide his irritation. 'Pretty
slim' was the way he put his Apollo's chances of meeting its mission
requirements." 1
According to Mike Gray, "Grissom had a sense of unease about this
flight. He told his wife, Betty, 'If there ever is a serious accident in the
space program, it's likely to be me.'" 2 We will never know if this statement
was the result of a psychic premonition or a burgeoning fear of our
government.
Early in January 67, Grissom, probably unaware that NASA had other
internal critics, hung a lemon on the Apollo capsule. He was threatening
to go public with his complaints. 3 He was already a popular celebrity,
especially with the press. He would have had no problem in getting his
story out. In a case like this even NASA's censors would have had little
control over the news. Headlines like "Popular Astronaut Rips Into
NASA!!" couldn't be easily squelched.
SPACE RADIATION
NASA also had another serious problem, besides being in a space race
with the Russian Bear. This problem derived from our first answer to the
Sputniks. On January 31, 1958, Explorer 1 lifted into orbit. It weighed a
mere 18.3 pounds and carried a geiger counter which dutifully reported
that a belt of intense radiation surrounded the Earth.
The belt was subsequently named after the Explorer Project Head,
James A. Van Allen. However, the radiation was first predicted by Nikola
Tesla around the beginning of this century as the result of experimental