I have heard this tape. While it’s distressing, it’s something worth hearing. Not because it’s pleasant to listen to people die. But because it’s worth remembering their pain so that those mistakes are never repeated again.

Remember that the engineers, technicians and other support staff of Apollo 1 didn’t have the option of turning off the audio either (I listened to it to partially feel what they felt). They worked feverishly to save their colleagues who were burning to death only a few inches away from them. And to finally reach them to find out that it was all in vain.

This would have been a horrifyingly painful experience for NASA. And it did have an impact. NASA changed in an instant. No effort was spared in keeping the future astronauts safe. So much so that a deeply crippled Apollo 13 still made it back safely. And no lives were ever again lost on the Apollo missions. That’s the power of a personal connection to a tragedy. I watch a lot of accident investigation documentaries, including rail, aviation and space. Nothing drives the lessons deep like the depiction of human tragedy.

Just imagine. If only the aircraft manufacturers could see the final moments of the passengers that die in their low quality aircrafts. Perhaps they would try hard to avoid such incidents rather than chase profits at any cost.

RIP: Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, Ed White. The bravehearts of Apollo 1.