Gus Grissom

Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 - January 27, 1967) was an American astronaut.

He was born in Mitchell, Indiana and earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1950. He was married with two children.

He was chosen with the first group of astronauts in 1959. He was pilot for Mecury-Redstone 4[?] ("Liberty Bell 7"), a suborbital flight, and command pilot for Gemini 3, as well as backup command pilot for Gemini 6[?], and had been selected as commander of the first Apollo program flight at the time of his death.

Grissom died along with fellow astronauts Edward White and Roger Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Kennedy.