June 1967... After the tragic loss of the Apollo 1 crew, astronauts Slayton, Shepard and Schirra testified before the House Committee on Science & Aeronautics that the Apollo 1 was the only fatal mission accident with 16 successful manned spaceflight missions under the same NASA management. Realigning the contract with North American Aviation, NASA believed a lunar landing before 1970 was still possible after Command Module spacecraft redesign and testing. The most crucial improvement was the installation of a single quick-operating outward opening aluminium/fiberglass crew hatch, that could be opened in a matter of seconds by both the astronauts and the pad safety crew. In addition, the launch pad spacecraft cabin atmosphere for pre-launch testing was changed from 100% oxygen to a mixture of 60% oxygen and 40% nitrogen, a mixture that was selected after extensive flammability testing. These June 1967 photos show astronaut Walter Schirra checking out a concept of the modified hatch on the North American Aviation built Apollo Command Module. Note Walter Schirra wore his personal Rolex GMT-master 1675 Pepsi pilot watch. Schirra together with fellow NASA astronauts Thomas Stafford and James Lovell was awarded the Rolex pilot watch during the 1966 Annapolis Naval Academy ceremony. By that time 20 NASA astronauts had a Rolex GMT-master. The story is described in Walter Schirra's 1988 book "Schirra's Space" on page 164! (Photo: NASA)
