Virgil "Gus" Grissom

Hey everyone,

Virgil "Gus" Grissom was one of the original Mercury astronauts. Gus joined the Army Air Forces after graduating high school in 1944, and, thanks to the G.I. Bill, he received a degree in engineering from Purdue and rejoined the Air Force where he became a pilot. Grissom flew 100 combat missions in Korea and became an instructor and eventually a test pilot after the war. In 1959, he would undergo the same tests that Shepard had and make it through to the final seven. On July 21, 1961, Grissom flew in the Liberty Bell 7 into another sub-orbital flight like Shepard. Upon landing, explosive bolts opened the hatch, and the craft began to fill with water. A helicopter tried to retrieve the Liberty Bell 7, but it became too heavy and was left to sink. Grissom exited from craft but flailed in the ocean as his suit filled with water because of a hole that Grissom was not able to close in time. He nearly drowned but was saved by a second helicopter. Gus would continue to fly as an astronaut on Gemini 3 and was slated to fly on Apollo 3, but I'll talk about those stories in another post.