Virgil Grissom

Gus Grissom
NASA Astronaut
Nationality	United States
Born	Virgil Ivan Grissom (1926-04-03)April 3, 1926 Mitchell, Indiana, U.S.
Died	January 27, 1967(1967-01-27) (aged 40) Cape Kennedy, Florida, U.S.
Other occupation	Test pilot
Alma mater	Purdue University, B.S. 1950 Air Force Institute of Technology, B.S. 1956
Rank	Lieutenant colonel, USAF
Time in space	5h 7m
Selection	1959 NASA Group 1
Missions	Mercury-Redstone 4, Gemini 3, Apollo 1
Mission insignia
Awards	Distinguished Flying Cross Congressional Space Medal of Honor NASA Distinguished Service Medal Indiana Distinguished Service Cross (Second Award Posthumously)

Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967), (Lt Col, USAF), was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts, a United States Air Force test pilot and a mechanical engineer. He was the second American to fly in space, and the first member of the NASA Astronaut Corps to fly in space twice.

Grissom was killed along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (then known as Cape Kennedy), Florida. He was the first of the Mercury Seven to die. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and, posthumously, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Grissom was born in Mitchell, Indiana, on April 3, 1926, the second child of Dennis David Grissom and Cecile King Grissom. His father was a signalman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and his mother a homemaker. His older sister died shortly before his birth, and he was followed by three younger siblings, Wilma, Norman and Lowell. As a child he attended the local Church of Christ, where he remained a lifelong member, and joined the Boy Scouts' Troop 46 earning the rank of Star Scout.