Men in Space, Astronauts Grissom, Glen and Shepard

A Trip Into Outer Space

Getting ready for their blast-off into outer space and adventure are spacemen Grissom, Glenn and Shepard.  They'll encounter all the thrills and dangers of the unknown worlds that surround our earth.

NASA Photography

Astronaut Captain Gus Grissom

Captain Gus Grissom, USAF, shown in his space-suit prior to being the second U. S. Astronaut launched into space.

Virgil I. Grissom State Memorial, Space Suit

Virgil I. Grissom State Memorial
Space Suit and Norman Rockwell Painting
Spring Mill State Park
Mitchell, Indiana

This view shows the space suit and helmet worn by Virgil I. Grissom on the Gemini III flight, and a painting showing Grissom and John Young getting ready for flight.

Photo by Bill Estell

The Original Seven NASA Astronauts

The original 7 Astronauts selected by NASA.  From left to right, Navy Lt. Comm. Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Air Force Capt. Leroy Cooper, Jr., Marine Lt. Col. John Glenn, Jr., Air Force Capt. Virgil Grissom, Navy Lt. Comm. Walter Schirra, Jr., Navy Lt. Comm. Alan Shepard, Jr., Air Force Major Donald Slayton.

Color by NASA

Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee

Virgil I. Grissom (1926 - 1967) U.S. Project Mercury astronaut.  Died in the tragic Apollo fire 1/27/67.  Shown at left with crewmates Ed White and Roger Chaffee.  NASA Photo

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Apollo 1 was the first manned mission of the U.S. Apollo manned lunar landing program. The planned low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967, because a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24, 1967.

Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom

U.S. Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom
U.S. Air Force Major Virgil I "Gus" Grissom was born April 3, 1926 in Mitchell, Indiana

Grissom was the pilot of the Mercury-Redstone 4 flight of "Liberty Bell 7 on July 21, 1961.  This flight, launched from Cape Canaveral, was a suborbital flight following a ballistic trajectory.  The flight attained an altitude of approximately 116 statue miles, and the space craft traveled about 254 statue miles down the Atlantic Missile Range.  Grissom was safely recovered, but due to a mishap the spacecraft filled with water and sank.  The test, however, effectively proved the spacecraft under suborbital conditions, and the Redstone program was considered successfully concluded.