Gus Grissom
Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was an American test pilot and astronaut. He was one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959.
Virgil I. Grissom | |
|---|---|
_Grissom_portrait.jpg) | |
| Born | April 3, 1926 |
| Status | Deceased |
| Died | January 27, 1967 (aged 40) Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Test pilot |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel, USAF[1] |
Time in space | 5 hours, 7 minutes |
| Selection | Group 1 (1959) |
| Missions | Mercury-Redstone 4, Gemini 3, Apollo 1 |
Mission insignia |    |
On July 21, 1961, Grissom flew into space in the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft. This was powered by a Redstone rocket. Grissom was the second American in space, following Alan Shepard.
He made another space flight as command pilot (pilot in charge) of Gemini 3. This was the first trip by astronauts in NASA's Project Gemini. The trip took place on March 23, 1965.
Grissom died along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (then known as Cape Kennedy), Florida. He was the first of the Mercury Seven to die.
Gus Grissom Media
Mercury 4 - Patch
Grissom in the United States Air Force
Grissom (far left) with fellow Project Mercury astronauts and a model of the Atlas rocket, July 12, 1962
Grissom in front of the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft
Liberty Bell 7, recovered in 1999, was restored and is displayed at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas
Charred remains of the Apollo 1 Command Module, in which Grissom was killed along with Roger B. Chaffee and Ed White
Grissom's and Roger Chaffee's headstones during the NASA Day of Remembrance ceremony in 2013
References
- ↑ Zornio, Mary C. "40th Anniversary of Mercury 7: Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom". NASA. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
Further reading
- Bredeson, Carmen (1998). Gus Grissom: A Space Biography. Countdown to Space. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers. ISBN 0-89490-974-6. LCCN 97-21343.
- Greenberger, Robert (2004). Gus Grissom: The Tragedy of Apollo 1. The Library of Astronaut Biographies. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 0-8239-4458-1. LCCN 2003011980.
Other websites
Media related to Gus Grissom at Wikimedia Commons
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