“27 Seconds” – New Exhibition Honoring the Heroes Who Died in the Apollo 1 Explosion - to Open at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum June 12, 2010

“27 Seconds,” a new exhibition that tells the story of the 1967 Apollo 1 tragedy when, during routine tests, a fire took the lives of astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee, will open at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, located at Pier 86 (46th Street and 12th Avenue) in Manhattan, on Saturday, June 12th.

It explores the circumstances and the impact surrounding this first American space program tragedy. Beginning with a timeline of the different phases of America’s race to the Moon; Mercury, followed by Gemini and finally Apollo, the exhibition includes a video of President John F. Kennedy’s famous race to the moon speech and highlights the special role that the USS Intrepid played while acting as a space capsule recovery ship for the early NASA missions.

Among the treasured objects that will be displayed in the exhibition are Roger Chaffee’s flight jumpsuit, a plaque that crew members of the USS Intrepid once presented to Gus Grissom, copies of NASA’s investigation report, photographs of the investigation, rare images of the three astronauts and the Western Union telegram that was sent to Chaffee’s family informing them of his death. The artifacts on display are from several museums from around the country as well as from the private collection of the Chaffee family.

The name of the exhibition, “27 Seconds,” represents the amount of time that passed from when the spark ignited the fire to the final voice transmission from the Apollo 1 crew.

The exhibition will run through November 21, 2010 and is free with the price of admission to the museum. For more information, visit www.intrepidmuseum.org.