Designation: A1C
The suit worn in the Apollo 1 fire — its failure triggered a complete redesign and made spacesuits fire-resistant forever.
The Apollo A1C was the Block I pressure garment assembly, a derivative of the Gemini G3C design adapted for the early Apollo program. Its nylon construction proved catastrophically flammable in the 100% pure oxygen atmosphere of the Apollo 1 command module. On January 27, 1967, during a ground test, fire broke out in the capsule and killed all three crew members — Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Investigations found the nylon suit materials melted and burned rapidly in the pressurized O₂ environment. This disaster directly caused NASA to mandate fire-resistant Beta cloth (fiberglass yarn) for all subsequent Apollo pressure garments, abandon pure oxygen pre-launch environments, and completely redesign the cabin atmosphere protocols. The A1C is the spacesuit whose failure arguably made all future spacesuits safer.
Grissom, White, and Chaffee died in a pure O₂ cabin fire; suits' nylon construction burned — tragedy that reshaped all future NASA suit materials
👨🚀 Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee