All Astronauts
VETERANIn MemoriamNASA
VETERANIn MemoriamNASANASA·🇺🇸 United States·Born 1926
Gus Grissom
Second American in space and commander of the first crewed Gemini flight.
5h
Hours in Space
2
Missions
0
EVAs
—
EVA Time
Biography
Second American in space and commander of the first crewed Gemini flight. Died with Ed White and Roger Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire during a launch-pad test in January 1967.
Before NASAU.S. Air Force test pilot who flew 100 combat missions in the F-86 Sabre during the Korean War, earned a mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University, and tested experimental aircraft at Edwards AFB before joining NASA's Mercury program in 1959.
Mission Timeline
- Pilot
Mercury capsule Liberty Bell 7
Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7)
Launch: Jul 21, 1961Landing: Jul 21, 1961Duration: 1 day- Second American suborbital spaceflight
- Commander
Gemini spacecraft Molly Brown
Gemini 3
Launch: Mar 23, 1965Landing: Mar 23, 1965Duration: 1 day- First crewed Gemini flight; first person to fly in space twice
Beyond the Mission
Hobbies & Interests
huntingfishingwater skiing
Languages
English
Fun fact
Grissom defiantly named his Gemini spacecraft Molly Brown — a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Broadway musical about the 'Unsinkable Molly Brown' — because his Mercury capsule Liberty Bell 7 had sunk after splashdown, a jab he knew NASA management would not appreciate.
More Astronauts
Other space travelers from NASA
