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Gus Grissom Facts & Worksheets

Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom was an American astronaut, mechanical architect, and United States aircraft tester who was a member of NASA's Mercury venture.

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Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom was an American astronaut, mechanical architect, and United States aircraft tester who was a member of NASA’s Mercury venture. He became the first American from NASA’s Astronaut Corps to fly in space twice.

See the fact file below for more information on the Gus Grissom or alternatively, you can download our 19-page Gus Grissom worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

BIOGRAPHY

  • Gus Grissom was born on April 3, 1926 in Mitchell, Indiana. He was the second child of Dennis David Grissom, a railroad man for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Cecile King Grissom, a housewife.
  • He had four siblings, including an older sister who passed on before his introduction to the world. His other siblings were Wilma, Norman, and Lowell.
  • In his adolescence, Gus was a devout Christian of the Church of Christ. He was also part of the Boy Scouts’ Troop 46 and rose to the position of Star Scout.
  • He started his schooling at open primary schools and later learned at Mitchell High School.
  • It was in high school that he met his future spouse, Betty Lavonne Moore. He and the remainder of the Troop 46 Boy Scouts bore the American banner at school ball games while she was a member of the school band as a drummer.
  • During this period, he did a few unspecialized temporary jobs, including delivering papers for the Indianapolis Star in the morning, and the Bedford Times at night. He also worked at a local meat market, a service station, and a clothing store. His enthusiasm for aeronautics started around this time.
  • He would regularly be found at a neighborhood air terminal in Belford, Indiana where a lawyer, who had a little plane, would let Grissom go with him on his flights for a $1 charge. He additionally helped him gain proficiency with the nuts and bolts of flying.

NASA

  • In 1958, Gus Grissom got an authority print message that requested that he report to a location in Washington, D.C. wearing non military personnel garments.
  • He became one of the 110 military test pilots who were invited to learn more about the space program in general and Project Mercury in particular.
  • While profoundly interested by the program, Grissom was very much aware of the wild challenge that would result for the coveted spots.
  • He was nearly prevented to continue after it was found that he had feed fever. Nevertheless, he was allowed to continue when it was reasoned that his allergy would not be an issue in space.
  • On April 13, 1959, he was contacted and informed that he was officially one of the seven Project Mercury space explorers.
  • On July 21, 1961, he turned into the pilot of the second Project Mercury flight, Mercury Redstone 4, for which he was dedicated as the astronaut for the Liberty Bell 7 capsule. The flight lasted for 15 minutes and 37 seconds after the lift-off when the capsule popped its chutes and landed in the Atlantic Ocean.
  • The spacecraft blew early and the ocean flooded in, making Grissom struggle for five minutes. This incident later on earned different stories saying that the astronaut panicked and fired his hatch before its scheduled period and that made the water get in the capsule. Other stories say that he had a quick mind to save himself. Conclusively, he would have suffocated had he not been saved on schedule. This incident led NASA to learn that the ocean is a great space to land in.
  • After space traveler Alan Shepard was excluded from being a part of Project Gemini, and was subsequently determined to have Ménière’s illness in mid 1964, Grissom was picked as the direction pilot for Gemini 3.
  • The crucial flight lifted off on March 23, 1965, and made him the first NASA space traveler to venture out to space twice. The flight comprised of three revolutions of the Earth and took 4 hours, 52 minutes, and 31 seconds.

DEATH

  • After the Gemini program, he was again tapped to crew the Apollo flight. During their training and flight rehearsals in January 1967, Grissom and astronauts White and Chaffee were killed by a tragic fire incident.
  • The fires were so strong that they consumed all of the oxygen inside the capsule and that suffocated all three.
  • Investigators never discovered the cause of the fire, and they reasoned that Grissom and his men died knowing the risks they faced. He was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • All through his celebrated navy career, Gus Grissom got various awards, such as Air Force Command Astronaut Wings, Distinguished Flying Pass, Air Medal with Cluster, NASA Outstanding Service Medal, NASA Top Notch Carrier Medal, American Marketing Campaign Medal, Global War II Victory Medal, and Korean Provider Medal with two stars.
  • On October 1, 1978, he was granted the Congressional Area Medal of Honor. He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1981 and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Reputation on May 11, 1990 and became cherished inside the Country Wide Aviation Hall of Reputation in 1987. He became a beneficiary of the John J. Montgomery Award.

LEGACY

  • As an essential member of American space history, a lot of media focused on him, for example, Carmen Bredeson ‘Gus Grissom: A Space Biography’ (1998), Ray E. Boomhower ‘Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut’ (2004) and George Leopold’s ‘Determined Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom’ (2016).
  • He has been depicted by various actors in two movies and TV shows.

Gus Grissom Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Gus Grissom across 19 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Gus Grissom worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom who was an American astronaut, mechanical architect, and United States aircraft tester who was a member of NASA’s Mercury venture. He became the first American from NASA’s Astronaut Corps to fly in space twice.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Gus Grissom Facts
  • Life Summary
  • Grissom’s Family
  • Honors and Accolades
  • Social Media
  • Astronaut Duties
  • A Full Lifetime
  • Quintessence
  • Scientific Invention
  • Grissom’s Legacy
  • Astronotes

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Use With Any Curriculum

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