Grissom, Virgil I. (Virgil Ivan), 1926-1967

<p>Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was a United States Air Force (USAF) pilot and a member of the Mercury Seven selected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) as Project Mercury astronauts to be the first Americans in outer space. He was a Project Gemini and an Apollo program astronaut. As a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps, Grissom was the second American to fly in space. He was also the second American to fly in space twice, preceded only by Joe Walker with his sub-orbital X-15 flights.</p>

<p>Grissom was a World War II and Korean War veteran, mechanical engineer, and USAF test pilot. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, and, posthumously, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.</p>

<p>During World War II, Grissom enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet. After his discharge from military service, Grissom enrolled at Purdue University, graduating with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering in 1950. He reenlisted in the U.S. Air Force, earning his pilot's wings in 1951, and flew 100 combat missions during the Korean War. After returning to the United States, Grissom was reassigned to work as a flight instructor at Bryan Air Force Base in Texas. He attended the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology for a year, earning a bachelor's degree in aeromechanics, and received his test pilot training at Edwards Air Force Base in California before his assignment as a test pilot at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.</p>

<p>Selected as one of the Mercury Seven astronauts, Grissom was the pilot of Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7), the second American suborbital flight, on July 21, 1961. At the end of the flight, the capsule's hatch blew off prematurely after it landed in the Atlantic Ocean. Grissom was picked up by recovery helicopters, but the blown hatch caused the craft to fill with water and sink. His next flight was in the Project Gemini program as command pilot for Gemini 3 (Molly Brown), which was a successful three-orbit mission on March 23, 1965. Grissom, commander of AS-204 (Apollo 1), died along with his fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee on January 27, 1967, during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Kennedy, Florida.</p>

<p>Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom had been part of the U.S. manned space program since it began in 1959, having been selected as one of NASA's Original Seven Mercury Astronauts. His second space flight on Gemini III earned him the distinction of being the first man to fly in space twice. His hard work, drive, persistence and skills as a top notch test pilot and engineer had landed him the title of commander for the first Apollo flight. Yet for Grissom, Apollo I was to be just the beginning. He had been told privately that if all went well, he would be the first American to walk on the moon. Although Grissom already had stacked up a very impressive list of career accomplishments, being first on the moon would be the ultimate achievement for the man who grew up in a small town during the lean years of the Great Depression.</p>

<p>Virgil Ivan Grissom was born on April 3, 1926 in Mitchell, Indiana, a tiny Midwestern community of about three thousand residents tucked away in the southern half of the state. Virgil was the eldest of Dennis and Cecile Grissom's four children, which included two brothers, Norman and Lowell and one sister, Wilma. Dennis Grissom managed to hold on to his job at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in spite of the numerous layoffs which were going on all around him. Although they were far from being wealthy, Mr. Grissom's twenty-four dollar per week salary allowed his family to live comfortably in their white frame house in town.</p>

<p>Although Grissom was too short to participate in high school sports, he found a niche for himself in the local Boy Scout troop where he eventually served as leader of the Honor Guard. To earn spending money, he delivered newspapers twice a day throughout the year and, in the summer, he was hired by the local growers to pick peaches and cherries in the orchards outside of town.</p>

<p>Throughout high school, Virgil used a good portion of his money to take Betty Moore to the late shows at the local theater. He had first met her during his sophomore year and he immediately knew that she was the girl for him. "I met Betty Moore when she entered Mitchell High School as a freshman, and that was it, period, exclamation point! It was a quiet romance, as far as anyone could see, but a special closeness started then and has developed into something light years beyond the power of mere words to describe."</p>

<p>Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom was born on April 3, 1926, in Mitchell, Indiana. The son of a railroad worker, Grissom graduated from high school in Mitchell in 1944 then was an aviation cadet until he was discharged in November 1945. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1950, returned to aviation cadet training and received his pilot’s wings in March 1951.</p>

<p>Grissom flew 100 combat missions during the Korean War, in F-86s with the 334th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. He left Korea in June 1952 to serve as a jet pilot instructor at Bryan, Texas. In August 1955 he went to the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Ohio, to study aeronautical engineering. In October 1956 he attended the Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California and returned to Wright-Patterson in May 1957 as a test pilot assigned to the Fighter Branch. He flew more than 3400 hours, including over 2500 hours in jets.</p>

<p>NASA selected Gus Grissom as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959. He became the second American in space when his Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 21, 1961. The successful sub-orbital flight ended approximately fifteen minutes after lift-off when Liberty Bell 7 popped its chutes and landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean.</p>

<p>Before Grissom and the Mercury capsule were recovered a hatch blew off prematurely and water flooded the cabin. After Grissom escaped the sinking capsule the rescue helicopter was unable to recover the spacecraft with the added weight of the water and Liberty Bell 7 sank to the bottom of the ocean. Nonetheless, it was a successful flight, corroborating Alan Shepard’s experiences, and the Mercury program could move ahead. Examination of Liberty Bell 7 after it was retrieved from the ocean floor in 1999 did not resolve the issue of how the hatch blew open but it is generally accepted Grissom himself was not responsible.</p>

<p>On March 23, 1965, Grissom returned to space as the commander of Gemini III, the first manned mission of the program, in a craft he had nicknamed the Molly Brown after the Broadway Musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Accompanied by Pilot John Young, Grissom became the first person to enter space twice. The main objectives for the five-hour flight were to test all of the major operating systems and to determine if controlled maneuvering of the spacecraft was possible. Being able to change orbit and flight path was crucial to upcoming rendezvous missions, and Grissom successfully executed orbital maneuvers in space. Molly Brown splashed down after flying eighty thousand miles in three successful orbits around the earth.</p>

<p>In March 1966, NASA announced that Grissom would command Apollo/Saturn 204, the first Earth-orbit mission of the program that was to take a man to the moon. Edward White (the first American to walk in space) would serve as Senior Pilot and Roger Chaffee was named Pilot. Due to serious issues with the Apollo spacecraft the initial launch date in the last quarter of 1966 was postponed by several weeks. After more redesigning, the crew capsule, Spacecraft 012, was taken to Kennedy Space Center, Florida for final preflight tests. On January 27, 1967, during a lengthy “plugs out” test on the launch pad, Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom and his crew were killed in flash fire that roared through the capsule when the pure oxygen used in the spacecraft was ignited by a spark. At the request of his widow, Mrs. Betty Grissom, the Apollo/Saturn 204 mission was renamed Apollo 1.</p>

<p>Virgil Grissom was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978. Marina Grissom (a landmark on the moon) and asteroid 2161 Grissom are named in his honor. It has been speculated that if not for the Apollo 1 fire, Grissom would have been NASA’s first choice to command the first lunar landing. During his lifetime he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with the cluster for his Korean service, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the Air Force Command Astronaut Wings.</p>

<p>Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (b. April 3, 1926-d. Jan. 27, 1967) was born in Mitchell, Indiana. An Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, received his wings in March 1951. He flew 100 combat missions in Korea in F-86s with the 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and, upon returning to the United States in 1952, became a jet instructor at Bryan, Texas. In August 1955, he entered the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to study Aeronautical Engineering. He attended the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in October 1956 and returned to Wright-Patterson in May 1957 as a test pilot assigned to the fighter branch.</p>

<p>Grissom was one of the seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA in April 1959. He piloted the ¿Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft (the second and final suborbital Mercury test flight) on July 21, 1961. On March 23, 1965, he served as command pilot on the first manned Gemini flight, A 3-orbit mission during which the crew accomplished the first orbital trajectory modifications and the first lifting reentry of a manned spacecraft. Subsequent to this assignment, he served as backup command pilot for Gemini 6. Grissom was named to serve as command pilot for the AS-204 mission, the first 3-man Apollo flight. Grissom died in the Apollo spacecraft fire in January 1967, at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.</p>