Grissom

Virgil Ivan "Gus"

USA

International order nº: 3

US astr. nº: 2

Personal data:

Birthdate:	03.04.1926
Birthplace:	Mitchell / Indiana
Marital status:	married
Children:	two
Selection date:	02.04.1959
Selection dgroup:	NASA-1
Job:	CDR
Status:	died 27.01.1967
Date of death	27.01.1967
Place of death:	Cape Canaveral / Florida, in the Apollo-1 spacecraft fire.

Suborbital Spaceflights (above the Karman line: 100 km):

No	Spaceship	Date & time launch (UTC)	Status while launch	Date & time landing (UTC)	Max. Altitude	Max.Speed	Duration
1	Mercury MR-4	21 July 1961 12:20 UT	Pilot	21 July 1961 12:36 UT	190 km	-	15m 37s

Note: Mercury MR-4 was the second suborbital Spaceflight.

Spaceflights:

No	Launch Spacecraft	Date and time of launch (UT)	Status while launch	Spacecraft of landing	Date and time of landing (UT)	Duration
1	Gemini-3	14h.24m.00s. Mar 23, 1965	Cdr	Gemini-3	19h.16m.31s. Mar 23, 1965	0d 04h 52m 31s
Total duration:						04h 52m 31s

Backup assignments:

Nº.	Mission	Position	Date
1	Mercury 6A	Cmd Pilot

Additional information:

Bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Purdue University 1950;
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF; test pilot; he flew 100 combat missions during the Korean War;
he became the second American in space when he piloted the suborbital flight of the Mercury-Redstone-4 spacecraft "Liberty Bell 7" on July 21, 1961;
hobbies: Hunting, fishing, skiing, boating.

Ref.: #6a, #16, #21, #101 - update: 23.11.2025