Chaffee - White - Grissom. As the clock crept past 6:00 pm and headed through the first half of the hour, there were more problems. This time, it was communications. There was a loop established between the Command Module, the Pad 34 blockhouse, the Launch Control Center, and Mission Control in Houston. There was a lot of static. Gus Grissom couldn't make out some transmissions at all. Finally, he said, "How are we going to go to the moon if we can't communicate between buildings?" Stu Roosa in the blockhouse couldn't hear him, and said, "Apollo 1, say again."

"I can't hear a word you're saying," Gus said in disgust. "Jesus Christ. I said, how are we going to go to the moon if we can't even communicate between two or three buildings?!?"

There was yet another hold while they worked on the communications problems. It was just past 6:30.

Moments later, a cry was heard over the radio that would shake the space program and the nation:

"We've got a fire in the cockpit!"

Chaffee - White - Grissom. As the clock crept past 6:00 pm and headed through the first half of the hour, there were more problems. This time, it was communications. There was a loop established between the Command Module, the Pad 34 blockhouse, the Launch Control Center, and Mission Control in Houston. There was a lot of static. Gus Grissom couldn't make out some transmissions at all. Finally, he said, "How are we going to go to the moon if we can't communicate between buildings?" Stu Roosa in the blockhouse couldn't hear him, and said, "Apollo 1, say again."

"I can't hear a word you're saying," Gus said in disgust. "Jesus Christ. I said, how are we going to go to the moon if we can't even communicate between two or three buildings?!?"

There was yet another hold while they worked on the communications problems. It was just past 6:30.

Moments later, a cry was heard over the radio that would shake the space program and the nation:

"We've got a fire in the cockpit!"