The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

cajoled, and maneuvered for NASA in the capital. By various
means, Webb built a network of political liaisons
that brought continued support for and resources to
accomplish the Moon landing on the schedule Kennedy
had announced. Webb was head of NASA when tragedy
struck the Apollo program. On January 27, 1967, Apollo-
Saturn (AS) 204 was on the launch pad at Kennedy Space
Center, Florida, moving through simulation tests when a
flash fire killed the three astronauts aboard—“Gus” Grissom,
Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. Webb told the
Webb, James Edwin 479
WAC Corporal A WAC Corporal is prepared for launch at White Sands Proving Ground in the late 1940s. U.S. Army/White Sands
Missile Range
media, “We’ve always known that something like this was
going to happen soon or later. ... who would have
thought that the first tragedy would be on the ground?”
As the nation mourned, Webb went to President Johnson
and asked that NASA be allowed to handle the accident
investigation and direct the recovery. He promised to be
truthful in assessing blame and pledged to assign it to
himself and NASA management as appropriate. The
agency set out to discover the details of the tragedy, correct
problems, and get back on schedule. Webb reported