Press Release
Event Date: Monday, May 13, 2019
For further information contact The Center for History,
260-982-0672
nmhistory@cinergymetro.net
"Fire in the Spacecraft: Gus Grissom and the Apollo 1 Disaster"
On
Monday, May 13, the NM Historical Society will welcome Ray E. Boomhower to
present his program, Fire in the
Spacecraft: Gus Grissom and the Apollo 1 Disaster. The
program will be held in the Assembly Room at Timbercrest Retirement Center, 2201
East Street, at 6:30 p.m. It is
open to the public at no cost.
Ray E. Boomhower is senior editor of the Indiana Historical Society Press, where
he is responsible for the popular history magazine, Traces of Indiana and
Midwestern History. Boomhower has been with the Society since 1987. A native
of Mishawaka, Indiana, Boomhower graduated from Indiana University in 1982 with
degrees in Journalism and Political Science. He received his Master’s in U.S.
History from Indiana University, in 1995. Before joining the Society staff, he
worked in public relations for the Indiana State Museum, and as a reporter for
two Indiana daily newspapers: the Rensselaer Republican and the
Anderson Herald.
In 1998, he received the Hoosier Historian award from the Indiana Historical
Society and in 2010, he was named winner of the Regional Author Award in the
annual Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards. In 2009, his book
Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary was selected as the winner in
the historical nonfiction category of the annual Best Books of Indiana contest.
His books have also been finalists and received honors in the annual Benjamin
Franklin Awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association and Foreword
Review’s Book of the Year Awards.
Boomhower’s program will go into details about the unfortunate death of Gus
Grissom. Grissom was an Air Force veteran and the commander of the Apollo 1. He
was America’s second person in space in 1961. The Apollo program changed forever
in January 1967, when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module
during a launch rehearsal test. Despite efforts from the ground crew, the three
men inside died. Because of the Apollo 1 incident, NASA had to complete
extensive redesigns before sending more men into space. The Apollo 1 fire was
difficult, but the improvements in astronaut safety allowed NASA complete the
rest of the program without further fatalities. To this day NASA remembers the
Apollo 1 incident every January in an annual Day of Remembrance.
All
are welcome for this unique program, and you are sure to learn something new!