Picture Info.
Postcard caption:
"Captain Gus Grissom USAF, shown in his space suit prior to being the second U.S astronaut launched into space"
Plastichrome postcard printed after January 1961.
Of all the Apollo and Mercury astronauts, one of my favourites has always been Virgil Ivan Grissom.
I don’t know why maybe it because Virgil was the coolest of the Thunderbird pilot (flying number 2 into danger not your work shy fop like Scott in T-Bird one showboating and getting the glory). Maybe it was his portrayal in “the Right Stuff” or maybe it’s finding out today that we share a birthday hurrah!
I won’t rehash his life story suffice to say 100 missions in Korea , chosen for Mercury Redstone -7 he was the 2nd American in space. Then came the incident with hatch door and the sinking of his capsule on splash down, the controversy that dogged him the rest of life.
Misfortune followed Gus as he was killed on the test pad of Apollo 1 with his colleagues Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee in a terrible fire caused by a number of problems: bad wiring, 100% oxygen atmosphere and a door that didn’t open from the inside!
So Gus is one of space true hero’s. It’s a nice shot too.
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