In 1967, a fire on-board Apollo One, the first mission of the U.S. lunar landing program, killed three astronauts before the mission ever got off the ground. The loss and the impact of that fire were as profound as the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster almost 20 years later. The Apollo One fire called into question the most fundamental aspects of NASA's management structure. Producer Richard Paul follows the aftermath of the disaster. Historians Roger Launius and Howard McCurdy recount how NASA, upon experiencing its worst catastrophe ever, attempted to keep the investigation in-house. But Members of Congress had other ideas. NASA had gathered, and then kept secret, highly critical information about the company that built the Apollo One capsule. Vice-President Walter Mondale was a Senator on the investigating committee, and remembers that he received information about the report. When that information was made public, it threw the agency open to suspicion for the first time in its history. Robert Seamans, the agency's deputy administrator in the Apollo years and former Congressional Space Committee Staffer, Glen Wilson describe how the agency was forced to change the way it approached the space program.

Washington Goes to the Moon - Part 2 is part of a series of Soundprint documentaries on the history of the U.S. space program. It was produced with support, in part, from WAMU-FM and the National Science Foundation. Here are some other related documentaries.

After Dogs and Chimpanzees: The Early Space Program Produced by: Judith Kampfner and Robin Wise

The First Astronauts Produced by: Judith Kampfner

Rocket Girls and Astro-nettes Produced by: Richard Paul

Rocketing Ahead Produced by: Richard Paul

Soundprint Executive Producer: Moira Rankin

Technical Director: Anna Maria de Freitas

Managing Producer: Gemma Hooley

Audio Engineer: Thom Woodward

Science Editor: Robert Smith