Friday, January 27, 2017

January 27th

US Astronauts Gus Girssom (US Air Force), Edward Higgins White (US Air Force) and Roger Chaffee (US Navy) are killed today when a fire breaks out in their Apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch pad test at Cape Kennedy. 


Pictured are the three Apollo 1 prime crew members 
intended for the first manned Apollo space flight: 
(L to R) Edward H. White II, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee. 
A fire inside the Apollo Command Module during a test 
took the lives of all three astronauts. 


Ironically, on the same day, The Outer Space Treaty was signed by more than 60 nations.  This agreement banned the orbiting of nuclear weapons and the placement of such weapons on any type of space stations or celestial bodies. 

It read: 

INSPIRED by the great prospects opening up before mankind as a result of man's entry into outer space, 

RECOGNIZING the common interest of all mankind in the progress of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, 
 
BELIEVING that the exploration and use of outer space should be carried on for the benefit of all peoples irrespective of the degree of their economic or scientific development, 
 
DESIRING to contribute to broad international co-operation in the scientific as well as the legal aspects of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, 
 
BELIEVING that such co-operation will contribute to the development of mutual understanding and to the strengthening of friendly relations between States and peoples, 
 
RECALLING resolution 1962 (XVIII), entitled "Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space", which was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 1963, 
 
RECALLING resolution 1884 (XVIII), calling upon States to refrain from placing in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction or from installing such weapons on celestial bodies, which was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly on 17 October 1963, 
 
TAKING account of United Nations General Assembly resolution 110 (II) of 3 November 1947, which condemned propaganda designed or likely to provoke or encourage any threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, and considering that the aforementioned resolution is applicable to outer space, 
 
CONVINCED that a Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, will further the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of the United Nations.   

The Beatles sign a nine-year worldwide contract with EMI.  (They will break up three years later.)  

For the first time General Motors is offering 8-Track Tape Players in their Buick line.  (Ford has been offering the device since 1965.)  8-Tracks would be phased out all together by 1982, overtaken by the far more popular cassette format.  

Neil Diamond (singing "I Got The Feelin'") and Sopwith Camel (doing "Hello Hello") appear on "Where The Action Is".