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Virgil Ivan GrissomAmerican astronaut
Date of Birth: 03.04.1926
Country: ![]() |
Biography of Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom was an American astronaut who was born on April 3, 1926, in Mitchell, Indiana. He was the oldest of three brothers, Norman and Lowell, and a sister named Wilma. Grissom's father, Denis, worked for the railroad, and from a young age, Grissom had a dream of becoming a pilot.

During his school years, Grissom developed an interest in natural sciences, particularly mathematics and physics. He showed remarkable intelligence, with an IQ of 145. Grissom was also very athletic and played basketball and handball.

In his hometown of Mitchell, Grissom met Betty Moore, whom he later married on July 6, 1945. In 1944, Grissom joined the United States Army Air Forces flight school. After World War II, he attended Purdue University in Indiana, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1950.
Grissom returned to flight school and served in South Korea during the Korean War. He flew F-86 Sabre jets and completed around a hundred combat missions. After the war, Grissom became a flight instructor, which he later described as more challenging than fighting in Korea.
In 1957, Grissom graduated from the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He then served as a test pilot at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he tested aircraft such as the F-104 Starfighter.
As one of the 110 best pilots in America, Grissom was selected to participate in the Mercury program, the first American manned spaceflight program. On April 9, 1959, he was chosen as one of the original seven astronauts, known as the "Mercury Seven." Grissom was assigned to pilot the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft, named after its bell-shaped appearance.
On July 21, 1961, Grissom made his second suborbital spaceflight aboard the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft, launched by a Redstone rocket. During the flight, he experienced weightlessness and observed loose bolts and tools floating in the cabin. The reentry and descent into the atmosphere subjected Grissom to 10g of force. After splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft sank due to a premature activation of the hatch, but Grissom managed to escape and was rescued.
In 1999, the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft was recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean by Kurt Newport. Grissom continued his career as an astronaut and participated in the Gemini program, which aimed to develop techniques for advanced space travel, including rendezvous and docking.
Grissom was initially assigned as the backup command pilot for the first manned Gemini mission, but when Alan Shepard became ill, Grissom became the commander of the primary crew for the Gemini 3 mission. He named the spacecraft Molly Brown, in an attempt to overcome the psychological trauma he experienced from the sinking of the Liberty Bell 7.
On March 23, 1965, Grissom and John Young flew aboard the Molly Brown spacecraft on the first manned Gemini mission. The primary objective was to test the spacecraft and its systems. The mission successfully completed three orbits around the Earth before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.
Grissom and Young were selected as backups for the Gemini VI-A mission. Grissom continued his astronaut career and began preparation for the Apollo program, which aimed to land humans on the Moon.
Tragically, on January 27, 1967, a fire broke out in the Apollo 1 command module during a training exercise at Cape Canaveral. Grissom, along with Edward White and Roger Chaffee, who were inside the spacecraft, died due to the lack of a quick-release mechanism for the hatch. This incident led to significant changes in the design and safety measures of future spacecraft.
Virgil Grissom was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Throughout his life, he accumulated 4,600 hours of flight time on various aircraft, including 3,500 hours on jet aircraft.
Scott Grissom, Virgil Grissom's eldest son and a professional pilot himself, has suggested that the fire in the Apollo 1 spacecraft was an act of sabotage by Soviet agents. However, official documents related to the incident have not been fully disclosed.
Grissom's contributions to the early American space program and his sacrifices in the pursuit of space exploration will always be remembered.