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These resources have been reviewed and selected by STEM Learning’s team of education specialists for factual accuracy and relevance to teaching STEM subjects in UK schools.
Apollo 1 fire - the Aftermath
This historic footage, from Footagevault, was recorded at the top of the Apollo 1 rocket stack shortly after the fire which claimed the lives of the first Apollo astronauts. The film shows how ferociously things burn in a high pressure pure oxygen environment. The engineers running this Apollo test procedure had pumped pure oxygen into this capsule without contemplating the dangers it posed to the crew. It can be seen that even the aluminium inside the spacecraft has combusted in this oxygen rich atmosphere. This grim illustration of the effect of oxygen can be used to discuss chemical and material behaviour with key stage three and four students.
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