The LuLac Edition #5, 558, January 29th, 2026

 

 

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IS

ONLY GOOD, WHEN HONORABLE PEOPLE

RUN IT

The senseless murders of two middle class Minnesota residents brings to light the validity of that statement. The cause of their death was not the fact that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that they were paid agitators as indicated by Trump yesterday.

The bullets fired from overzealous untrained thugs killed them but their inevitable deaths began long before the actual date. We, as a nation contributed to it by voting for Donald Trump who

1.   Had discrimination charges against Black renters.

2.  Sexual misconduct of over 24 women.

3.  Trump brags about grabbing women before a cameo on a Soap Opera.

4.  Trump is accused of raping a 13 year old girl.

5.  A woman journalist for People Magazine accuse Trump of assault when he was giving her a tour oi Maraloga when his third wife was pregnant.,

6.  Paying hush money to a porn star that got him indicted and convicted.

7.  Trump University where he promised that attendees would get valuable lessons in real estate turned out to be a fraud. It was disbanded and had to pay back 25 million dollars in restitution.

8.  E. Jean Carroll from the New Yorker alleges sexual assault   and wins a 60 million legal case.

9.  Trump is impeached the first time. Senate saves his ass.

10.     Trump tries to overthrow the government in 2021 saying the election was a landslide and stolen from him. 

11.     Trump is AGAIN impeached for his conduct on January 6^th.

12.     Trump is out of office and asked about missing documents he took from the White House. That’s May 2021.

13.      In August 2022, the documents are found at Trump’s house in Florida.

14.     The Trump organization was convicted of tax fraud on 17 charges in the amount of 1.6 million dollars.

15.     On January 10^th, Trump gets an “unconditional release meaning that he is still guilty in the eyes of the law and a felon but gets no jail time or probation.

And this doesn’t even cover the second term.

WE DID THIS AS A COUNTRY.

IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF EYES.

AND SOME OF US ARE SO STUPID, RACIST, SEXIST, AND ARE CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT PATRIOTISM MEANS, THAT WE BOUGHT IT.  

Is it any wonder that the guardrails are now off. An administration is only as good as the people it brings with it.

Take a good look at who Trump brought to do his dirty work.

He believes in prosecuting his political enemies, punishing dissenters both in and out of government, and following his own impulses regardless of law or norms. As the first year of Trump’s second term drew to a close, the administration launched an operation to arrest the Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro without bothering to seek congressional assent, doubled down on its obsession with seizing Greenland, and proclaimed “absolute immunity” for the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good and now Alex Prettii Minneapolis. Top experts in authoritarianism now contend that America can no longer be characterized as a democracy.

We are now in a crisis where everyone in the world is disengaging from us. The United States has been compared to Germany in the 1930s. Two things on that.

1.  Like the United States, Germany was a Republic.

2.  We’re less than 8 years away from losing our democracy and Republic because of one damaged man and his cult followers.(LuLac, The Atlantic) 

JOSH SHAPIRO

STATEMENT

/

ON KILLING

IN MINNESOTA

 

WHAT ICE THUGS

SAID AND DID

AFTER THE SHOOTING

1.  Said “boo hoo” in response to a woman screaming in disbelief., “What did you do? What did you do?”

2.  Another one clapped.

These are the low IQ, ignorant slob pigs with manhood issues that they give guns to.

 

STACY AND

DONALD ARE TOGETHER

The Trump administration has endorsed Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacey Garrity for Govdrnor, Stacey’s been making the rounds and saying that she was only kidding when she said adamantly that the election of 2020 was stolen by Joe Biden.

Last week when Robert “Hey parents you don’t need no stinkin’ measles vaccines for your kids” Kennedy came tol town, Stacey was standing right behind him. Incredibly later that photo was taken down from her campaign website.

Hmmm………………..can we trust her? Can Donnie or Bobby trust her?

 

TRUMP ON ALEX 

PRETTI PROTESTORS

In an interview Trump called the Minnesota protestors PAID.

In Wilkes-Barre, he most likely would have said the same thing.  The protest comes just days after a federal agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shot and killed American citizen and ICU nurse Alex Pretti. Weeks earlier, an ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed Renée Good, another American citizen and mother of three.

Organizers Action Together NEPA, Pennsylvania Policy Center, and Pennsylvanians Together called on Fetterman to vote no on a spending bill for Homeland Security, which covers Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

I can guarantee that none of these people got paid. But the MAGAs on Facebook and ingrates in LuLac land will blindly tell you they did,  don’t listen to their bullshit. (LuLac, Times Leader). 

BRESNAHAN VOTES 

TO FULLY FUND GOVERNMENT 

AND BRING HOME $11.4 MILLION TO NEPA

 

Representative Rob Bresnahan, Jr. voted in favor of H.R. 7147, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026 and H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026. H.R. 7147 passed the House by a vote of 220-207, and H.R. 7148, which includes three of the 12 appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2026, passed the House by a vote of 341-88

“At the heart of today’s legislation are the people that keep our country and communities moving,” said Rep. Bresnahan.“Whether it is increased funding to hire 2,500 new air traffic controllers, pay raises for our servicemen and women, financial support for FEMA and disaster relief, funding for maternal, child, rural, and mental health initiatives, or support for Job Corps and other apprenticeship programs, these investments are going directly to the people. I will always support legislation that puts our people and district first.”

Rep. Bresnahan successfully secured $11,432,000 for five projects located throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, marking a significant federal investment in the region’s future. These funds will support local priorities, strengthen community infrastructure, and deliver tangible benefits to residents in our communities.

The projects are as follows:

$3,000,000 for the Wayne & Pike County Career and Technical Center

$2,432,000 for the Monroe County Goose Pond Dam Project

$2,000,000 for the SR 6 Over Wallenpaupack Creek Bridge

$1,500,000 for Veterans Permanent Supportive Housing

$2,500,000 for the Route 309/Mundy Street Crossroads Improvement Project

“Community Project Funding is about making sure our tax dollars come back home to Northeastern Pennsylvania,” continued Rep. Bresnahan. “These investments support real, locally driven projects, from infrastructure and housing to workforce development, that our communities have identified as priorities. I’m proud to deliver funding that strengthens our region, creates jobs, and improves quality of life right here in NEPA.”

Defense Appropriations Act, 2026:

Providing a 3.8% pay raise for all service members.

Providing a 1% civilian employee pay increase.

Providing $1.1 billion for counter-drug programs.

$6.4 billion for procurement of critical munitions, including an additional $2.1 billion for increased quantities to execute multi-year procurement ramp.

Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026:

Providing $513 million to sustain 22,000 Border Patrol agents.

Provides $32 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an increase of $4.7 billion from FY25 enacted to reinforce preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities across the country.

$26.4 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund to support response and recovery efforts following major disasters and emergencies.

$3.8 billion for grant programs and education, trainings, and exercises for local and state firefighters, first responders, and emergency managers throughout American communities.

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026:

Supports the implementation of Executive Order 14278 “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future” by providing $285 million to support the Trump Administration’s goal of surpassing one million new active apprentices.

Provides $55 million for job training throughout rural America.

Provides $418 million for rural health, including increased funding for America’s rural hospitals, specifically targeting facilities at risk of imminent closure and increasing rural residency opportunities.

Maintains $1.9 billion to support community health centers that provide affordable, accessible, and high-quality health care in underserved communities.

Provides $1.2 billion to support maternal and child health, including children with special health care needs.

Provides $49 billion for the National Institutes of Health to ensure America maintains its edge in basic biomedical research for cures to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, rare diseases, and chronic diseases impacting Americans.

Provides a $20 million increase for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Provides $12.4 billion Head Start to support school readiness of children from low-income families.

Provides a $50 million increase for the Social Security Administration to support frontline services to America’s seniors and other beneficiaries through field office visits, calls, and online services.

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026:

Increasing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by $1.588 billion, a top Trump Administration priority, which will keep our skies safe and help build a world-class air traffic control system.

Providing the FAA with resources to hire 2,500 new air traffic controllers.

Investing $64.323 billion in highway infrastructure.

Directing $4.577 billion to airport infrastructure.

$63.396 billion in highway trust fund programs.

$14.642 billion in highway trust fund transit programs.

$3.3 billion for the Community Development Block Grant Program.

$145 million for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

 

LT. GOV. AUSTIN DAVIS HIGHLIGHTS SHAPIRO-DAVIS ADMINISTRATION'S SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION PROJECTS ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

Austin Davis in Kingston last week with Attorney Cheryl Sobeski-Reedy at right. (LuLac archives)  

Projects to revitalize communities and support young people and low-income families in the Lehigh Valley are getting a boost from the Shapiro-Davis Administration, which recently approved more than $5.5 million in funding through the Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP), which provides state tax credits to businesses that contribute to nonprofit organizations.

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis joined state and local leaders at a news conference today in Allentown to highlight the NAP investments, including a project by Community Action Lehigh Valley that will help youth in center city Allentown.

"When I was growing up in McKeesport, I spent many days at my local Boys and Girls Club, so I understand how important it is for young people have safe and supportive places to go after school and in the summer months," said Davis. "The Shapiro-Davis Administration is making communities safer and giving kids more opportunities by investing in afterschool and summer programs, through our new BOOST initiative, but also with NAP tax credits. I'm grateful for the companies that are supporting this project in Allentown, as well as the work of Community Action Lehigh Valley, for investing in Pennsylvania's most precious resource - our children."

 

MEDIA MATTERS

WVIA NEWS

WALN

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

You'll hear the program Sunday at 6 on 94.3 The Talker; 6:30 on 1400 am The Mothership and 7:30 am on 105 The River.

 

THE LAURIE CADDEN SHOW

Tune in every Saturday morning at 9am for The Laurie Cadden Show on WILK FM 103.1 and AM 980 and 910. Laurie’s program has been a northeastern Pennsylvania mainstay every Saturday. Tune in to hear her insights and take on local issues as well as entertaining and informative interviews.

 

BOBBY V’S DOO WOP SUNDAY NIGHT SOCK HOP

 

BEATLE EDD’S FAB FOUR MUSIC HOUR

Tune in every week to the Home of Rock and Roll for a jam packed, unpredictable hour starting at 9am Sundays. Host Edd Raineri gives you facts and great music from the immortal Fab Four on ROCK 107.

 

THE LULAC TIME MACHINE

ROCK STARS UNITED

January 1985

This week in 1985 rock stars united to do something totally out of the ordinary. "We Are the World" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the album We Are the World to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. With sales in excess of 20 million physical copies, it is the eighth-best-selling single of all time.

After the British group Band Aid released the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984, the musician and activist Harry Belafonte decided to create an American single for African famine relief. The agent Ken Kragen enlisted several musicians for the project. Jackson and Richie completed the writing the night before the first recording session on January 28, 1985. The recording brought together some of the era's best-known recording artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, and Tina Turner.

"We Are the World" was promoted with a music video, a VHS, a special edition magazine, a simulcast, and books, posters and shirts. It raised more than $80 million (equivalent to $229 million in 2024)for humanitarian aid in Africa and the United States. Another cast of singers recorded a new version, "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Recording began on January 22, 1985, at Kenny Rogers' Lion Share Recording Studio on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. The first day included Richie, Jackson, Wonder, and Jones, along with the session musicians Jones had hired to lay down the backing tracks: John "JR" Robinson on drums, Louis Johnson on bass, and Greg Phillinganes on piano. The three had first played together on Jackson's 1979 single "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", produced by Jones. Despite tight security, the studio was filled with the musicians, technicians, video crews, retinue, assistants, and organizers.

Richie sat at the piano to teach everyone the song. When it was time to record, Robinson cleared the room of non-musicians. The session musicians recorded the backing tracks, then Richie and Jackson recorded a vocal guide. Jones selected the sixth take of the guide—he felt there was too much "thought" in the previous versions—and had it mixed with the instrumental tracks. A cassette tape duplicate was made for each of the performers invited to the vocal recording sessions.

More than 45 of America's top musicians participated, and another 50 had to be turned away.A sign taped to the studio door read: 

"Check your ego at the door."Wonder greeted the musicians as they entered, and said that if the recording was not completed in one take, he and Ray Charles, two blind men, would drive everybody home.

Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner and Billy Joel sing the first verse; Michael Jackson and Diana Ross sing the first chorus; Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau sing the second verse; Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry and Daryl Hall sing the second chorus; Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, and Kim Carnes sing the bridge.The structure is said to "create a sense of continuous surprise and emotional buildup".

The following people sang in the chorus: Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper, Jackie Jackson, La Toya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, Anita Pointer, June Pointer, Ruth Pointer, and Smokey Robinson.

"We Are the World" was released on March 7, 1985, by Columbia Records. It topped music charts throughout the world, became the fastest-selling US pop single in history and the first single to be certified multi-platinum, and was certified quadruple platinum. Its awards include four Grammy Awards,

The LuLac Edition #5, 557, January 28th, 2026

 

WRITE ON

WEDNESDAY

Our “Write On Wednesday” logo

We need to share this week’s article from The National Review. The Review was founded by the father of modern conservatism Wiliam F. Buckley and has been a bastion of all social and political things to the right for as long as  can remember. But this missive from the Review is worth reading in the wake of the murder of a feral employee who attended a protest in Minnesota.  

 

AT A MINIMUM, THE DHS SECRETARY SHOULD IMMEDIATELY BECOME THE LEAST VISIBLE MEMBER OF THIS ADMINISTRATION.

I don’t need to explain to you what happened over the weekend in Minneapolis, though on the off chance you’ve been sheltering underneath a rock for the last two days, I will. Amid the ongoing anti-ICE/CBP protests in the Twin Cities, a protester named Alex Pretti was gunned down by Border Patrol authorities. Pretti was legally carrying a concealed weapon while filming federal authorities on the street. After trying to help a woman shoved by an officer, he was forced to the ground and disarmed (he did not reach for his weapon). At this point — and I regret having had to watch the footage as many times as I did — he was shot nine or ten times in the back and head.

This was a horrible tragedy, one that should be thoroughly and properly investigated.

This, however, was unlike the “is the dress gold or blue?” miasma of the Renee Good shooting, where multiple camera angles from equally oblique views allowed people online to create their own narratives. While questions remain unanswered, the videos create a more serious optics problem for the feds. Near as I can tell, the best possible narrative available is that this was the result of a tragic miscommunication among the ICE/CBP officers (when one of them shouted “gun” as he confiscated Pretti’s weapon), possibly fueled by an accidental discharge of the weapon. I also think that anyone who walks into a situation as explosive as this should have the sense to follow Johnny Cash’s sage advice: “Don’t take your guns to town.” That, however, can be of little consolation to a dead man or to his family and friends.

My constant counsel to the Trump administration is to know where to pick their battles. And President Trump — or whoever is really calling his domestic shots, perhaps Stephen Miller — has been supremely easy to manipulate into self-defeating conflicts: He chases PR heat rather than policy light, hence his focus on top-directed action in “high conflict” blue cities like Chicago and now — with the shiny object of Somalian fraud beckoning him into the trap — Minneapolis. And that’s why ICE and CBP have always been walking the thinnest of lines there: The goal for both sides is splashy, capital-C Confrontation. (The only way Trump knows how to think of the world is via headlines.) Trump will lose that game, even though he believes himself — with some reason — to be a master of it.

So no, I’m not going to offer any thoughts as to whether or not I believe the progressive activist left has successfully checkmated a blundering Trump (watch this space for more tomorrow), but I will say this: Any hope of Trump’s presidency clawing its way out of the hole it has dug for itself begins with firing Kristi Noem, current secretary of homeland security and the administration’s most prominent “ridealong disaster” during its first year. Preferably out of a rocket, and into the sun. Damage control is needed, and she is the most visible avatar of damage.

Honestly, I’d advise Trump to can nearly everybody within the remote orbit of DHS leadership except for Tom Homan — that is, if I thought he was reading me. But I will settle instead for the hope that this one message will break through: Stanch the bleeding by canning your most incompetent lieutenant.

Out came Noem this weekend, in the wake of the shooting, to announce via previously undisclosed powers of clairvoyance: “This individual who came, with weapons and ammunition, to stop a law-enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers, committed an act of domestic terrorism. That’s the facts.” Oh, are they? Alex Pretti committed “domestic terrorism” by being there? “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived to inflict maximum damage and kill law enforcement,” Noem said. I am envious of her mind-reading ability. For my own part, I saw a guy executed while face down on the street.

I could mention worse. I could cite Bill Essayli, low-level Trump myrmidon but high-level Twitter fool, writing, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” Kash Patel, director of the FBI, went to Fox in a panic to blubber: “You cannot bring a firearm, locked and loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want — it’s that simple.”

But I will advise him instead to simply cut bait on his most visibly over-her-head subordinate. Trump doesn’t even have to fire her — confirmations are dicey these days — but can at least denigrate and demote. Kristi Noem should immediately become the least visible member of this administration. I get that Trump doesn’t like admitting defeat, or error. (It is not in the nature of Trump to err, only to “win” in different, less recognized ways.) So instead, bank a win in this case by acknowledging that you have been let down by one of your subordinates, and restore public confidence by taking her to the figurative gravel pit.

Just my advice.

Jeffrey Blehar

Jeffrey Blehar is a National Review staff writer living in Chicago. He is also the co-host of National Review’s Political Beats podcast, which explores the great music of the modern era with guests from the political world happy to find something non-political to talk about.

 

The LuLac Edition #5, 556, January 27th, 2026

 

NOTABLE 

ANNIVERSARIES

INTERNATIONAL

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

On November 1, 2005, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 60/7 to designate January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD). The date marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and is meant to honor the victims of Nazism. The same resolution supports the development of educational programs to remember the Holocaust and to prevent further genocide.

Resolution 60/7 not only establishes January 27 as “International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust,” it also rejects any form of Holocaust denial. The resolution encourages member states of the UN to actively preserve sites that the Nazis used during the "Final Solution"  (for example, killing centers, concentration camps, and prisons.) Drawing from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the resolution condemns all forms of “religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief” throughout the world.

You would think that such a horrific day would not need a reminder. But unfortunately that is not the case. The holocaust denier lie has to be stopped in its tracks.

The Holocaust is one of the best documented events in history. “Holocaust denial” describes attempts to negate the established facts of the Nazi genocide of European Jewry. Common denial assertions are that the murder of six million Jews during World War II never occurred; that the Nazis had no official policy or intention to exterminate the Jews; and that the poison gas chambers in the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center never existed.

A newer trend is the distortion of the facts of the Holocaust. Common distortions include assertions that the figure of six million Jewish deaths is an exaggeration; that deaths in the concentration camps were the results of disease or starvation but not policy; and that the diary of Anne Frank is a forgery.

Holocaust denial is generally motivated by hatred of Jews, and builds on an accusation that the Holocaust was invented or exaggerated by Jews as part of a plot to advance Jewish interests. This view perpetuates long-standing antisemitic stereotypes by accusing Jews of conspiracy and world domination, hateful charges that were instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Holocaust.

Holocaust distortion may be associated with antisemitism, but there are also forms that may result from a lack of respect or awareness of the subject. Regardless of the motivation, all forms of Holocaust distortion open the door to more dangerous forms of denial and antisemitism because they cast doubt on the reality of the Holocaust.

The United States Constitution ensures freedom of speech. Therefore, in the United States denying the Holocaust or engaging in antisemitic hate speech is not illegal, except when there is an imminent threat of violence. Many other countries, particularly in Europe where the Holocaust occurred, have laws criminalizing Holocaust denial and hate speech. (LuLac, Holocaust Museum, wikipedia.)  

 

APOLLO ONE

It was a Friday night on a cold January night in 1967. Shortly before 11pm ABC News broke in with a bulletin that stunned the nation. Until that night, the American Space program had a strig of successful launches with no casualties.

That changed that Friday night.

Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program,[1] the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital test of the Apollo command and service module. However, the mission never flew; a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on January 27, 1967 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the command module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was made official by NASA in their honor after the fire.

Immediately after the fire, NASA convened an Accident Review Board to determine the cause of the fire, and both chambers of the United States Congress conducted their own committee inquiries to oversee NASA's investigation.

During the Congressional investigation, Senator Walter Mondale publicly revealed a NASA internal document citing problems with prime Apollo contractor North American Aviation, which became known as the Phillips Report. This disclosure embarrassed NASA Administrator James E. Webb, who was unaware of the document's existence, and attracted controversy to the Apollo program. Despite congressional displeasure at NASA's lack of openness, both congressional committees ruled that the issues raised in the report had no bearing on the accident.

On that day, there was a test rehearsal. The launch simulation on January 27, 1967, on pad 34, was a "plugs-out" test to determine whether the spacecraft would operate nominally on (simulated) internal power while detached from all cables and umbilicals. Passing this test was essential to making the February 21 launch date. The test was considered non-hazardous because neither the launch vehicle nor the spacecraft was loaded with fuel or cryogenics and all pyrotechnic systems (explosive bolts) were disabled

At 1:00 pm EST (18:00 GMT) on January 27, first Grissom, then Chaffee, and White entered the command module fully pressure-suited, and were strapped into their seats and hooked up to the spacecraft's oxygen and communication systems. Grissom immediately noticed a strange odor in the air circulating through his suit which he compared to "sour buttermilk", and the simulated countdown was put on hold at 1:20 pm, while air samples were taken. No cause of the odor could be found, and the countdown was resumed at 2:42 pm. The accident investigation found this odor not to be related to the fire.

The simulated countdown was put on hold again at 5:40 pm while attempts were made to troubleshoot the communications problem. All countdown functions up to the simulated internal power transfer had been successfully completed by 6:20 pm, and at 6:30 the count remained on hold at T minus 10 minutes.

The fire

Command module exterior, blackened from the eruption of fire

Duration: 2 minutes and 55 seconds.2:55

Audio recording from the ground loop, starting from Grissom's "talk between buildings" remark. The first mention of fire is heard at 1:05.

The crew members were using the time to run through their checklist again, when a momentary increase in AC Bus 2 voltage occurred. Nine seconds later (at 6:31:04.7), one of the astronauts (some listeners and laboratory analysis indicate Grissom) exclaimed "Hey!", "Fire!",[17]: 5–8  or "Flame!";[23] this was followed by two seconds of scuffling sounds through Grissom's open microphone. This was immediately followed at 6:31:06.2 (23:31:06.2 GMT) by someone (believed by most listeners, and supported by laboratory analysis, to be Chaffee) saying, "[I've, or We've] got a fire in the cockpit." After 6.8 seconds of silence, a second, badly garbled transmission was heard by various listeners (who believed this transmission was made by Chaffee[17]: 5–9 ) as:

"They're fighting a bad fire—Let's get out ... Open 'er up",

"We've got a bad fire—Let's get out ... We're burning up", or

"I'm reporting a bad fire ... I'm getting out ..."

The transmission lasted 5.0 seconds and ended with a cry of pain.

Some blockhouse witnesses said that they saw White on the television monitors, reaching for the inner hatch release handle as flames in the cabin spread from left to right.

The heat of the fire fed by pure oxygen caused the pressure to rise to 29 psi (200 kPa), which ruptured the command module's inner wall at 6:31:19 (23:31:19 GMT, initial phase of the fire). Flames and gases then rushed outside the command module through open access panels to two levels of the pad service structure. The intense heat, dense smoke, and ineffective gas masks designed for toxic fumes rather than smoke, hampered the ground crew's attempts to rescue the men. There were fears the command module had exploded, or soon would, and that the fire might ignite the solid fuel rocket in the launch escape tower above the command module, which would have likely killed nearby ground personnel, and possibly have destroyed the pad.

As the pressure was released by the cabin rupture, the rush of gases within the module caused flames to spread across the cabin, beginning the second phase. The third phase began when most of the oxygen was consumed and was replaced with atmospheric air, essentially quenching the fire, but causing high concentrations of carbon monoxide and heavy smoke to fill the cabin, and large amounts of soot to be deposited on surfaces as they cooled.

It took five minutes for the pad workers to open all three hatch layers, and they could not drop the inner hatch to the cabin floor as intended, so they pushed it out of the way to one side. Although the cabin lights remained on, they were unable to see the astronauts through the dense smoke. As the smoke cleared they found the bodies, but were not able to remove them. The fire had partly melted Grissom's and White's nylon space suits and the hoses connecting them to the life support system. Grissom had removed his restraints and was lying on the floor of the spacecraft. White's restraints were burned through, and he was found lying sideways just below the hatch. It was determined that he had tried to open the hatch per the emergency procedure, but was not able to do so against the internal pressure. Chaffee was found strapped into his right-hand seat, as procedure called for him to maintain communication until White opened the hatch. Because of the large strands of melted nylon fusing the astronauts to the cabin interior, removing the bodies took nearly 90 minutes. The bodies were only able to be removed after 7.5 hours from the time the incident took place, due to the gases and toxins present which prevented medical personnel from entering initially.

Deke Slayton was possibly the first NASA official to examine the spacecraft's interior.His testimony contradicted the official report concerning the position of Grissom's body. Slayton said of Grissom and White's bodies, "it is very difficult for me to determine the exact relationships of these two bodies. They were sort of jumbled together, and I couldn't really tell which head even belonged to which body at that point. I guess the only thing that was real obvious is that both bodies were at the lower edge of the hatch. They were not in the seats. They were almost completely clear of the seat areas.

The autopsy report determined that the primary cause of death for all three astronauts was cardiac arrest caused by high concentrations of carbon monoxide. Asphyxiation occurred after the fire melted the astronauts' suits and oxygen tubes, exposing them to the lethal atmosphere of the cabin.[17]: 6-1 

 According to the Board, Grissom suffered severe third-degree burns on more than one-third of his body and his spacesuit was almost completely destroyed. White suffered third-degree burns on almost half of his body and a quarter of his spacesuit had melted away. Chaffee suffered third-degree burns on almost a quarter of his body and a small portion of his spacesuit was damaged. Burns suffered by the crew were not believed to be major factors, and it was concluded that most of them had occurred postmortem.

Major causes of accident

The review board identified several major factors which combined to cause the fire and the astronauts' deaths:

An ignition source most probably related to "vulnerable wiring carrying spacecraft power" and "vulnerable plumbing carrying a combustible and corrosive coolant"

A pure oxygen atmosphere at higher than atmospheric pressure

A cabin sealed with a hatch cover which could not be quickly removed at high pressure

An extensive distribution of combustible materials in the cabin

Inadequate emergency preparedness (rescue or medical assistance, and crew escape). (NASA, ABC News)