What Could Have Been
Before NASA chose Neil Armstrong to be the first man on the Moon, there was another man who displayed all the qualities and qualifications America wanted in its representation to the stars. Gus Grissom was not only one of the best pilots of his age, but one of the smartest engineers the space program could ever hope for, with a willingness to face danger that many believed made him perfect for the lunar mission—until one fateful day.
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1. They Lost Someone
Not even the sky was the limit for someone like Gus Grissom, and had he not met an untimely end, it’s impossible to know how far he would have gone—but he wasn’t the only victim. Although his parents would eventually endure the grief of losing him, he unfortunately wasn’t their first child to perish, as his sister, Lena, had passed just a year before he came into this world in 1926.
This only made them cherish their other children even more and support Gus’s dreams—which he didn’t take long to figure out.
2. He Fell In Love
Growing up in Indiana, Gus Grissom’s childhood wasn’t too different from anyone else’s, mostly consisting of school and friends. However, he had already discovered his passion. In his spare time, he would often buy and build model airplanes, and while this began as a hobby, it quickly led to an obsession with flying.
Clearly, he was already growing into the man he would become—right down to his name.
3. They Gave Him A Name
“Gus Grissom” was a name many in NASA would come to respect forever, but the truth was, it wasn’t even his real name. Born Virgil Ivan Grissom, the change stemmed from his childhood, and one mistake in particular. While trying to read his surname upside-down, a friend of his accidentally said the name “Gus” instead, and the nickname stuck.
Throughout this time, he always managed to stand out from everyone, though not in a bad way.
4. He Loved The Outdoors
Grissom had already fallen in love with flying, but it wasn’t the only interest he had, as he became quite the accomplished outdoorsman at an early age. Over the course of a few years, he developed another passion for hunting and fishing, largely due to his time in the Boy Scouts, where he earned the rank of Star Scout.
He was also determined to become an athlete—despite any disadvantages he had.
5. He Tried Something Else
By the time Grissom entered high school, he had spent so much time outdoors and in physical activities that joining a sports team seemed like a no-brainer—but it wasn’t that easy. Initially, he wanted to be on the school’s basketball team, but he didn’t get far, as the coach told him he was too short. Advised by his father, Grissom pivoted to something more up his alley and joined the swim team instead.
No matter what, though, he always returned to the first love of his life.
6. He Took To The Skies
Grissom’s fascination with aircraft never went away, and when he wasn’t studying or swimming, he would visit a small airport nearby to watch the planes and get more hands-on experience. Befriending an attorney from the area who loved flying himself, Grissom was ecstatic as the man took him under his wing and showed him the ropes, even taking the young Grissom up in a small plane he owned.
Little did he know that this was about to become much more than a hobby.
7. He Wanted To Join
Although Gus Grissom had spent most of his childhood and teenage years living relatively carefree, something was coming that would uproot both his life and that of everyone he knew. WWII began in 1939, and although he was still only in high school, he couldn’t wait to serve his country. Most would have postponed enlisting until after graduation, but Grissom refused, signing up to be an aviation cadet in his final year.
While he was certainly eager to do his part, it wasn’t exactly what he expected.
8. He Didn’t Do Much
Joining the US Air Force in 1944, Grissom had grand, romanticized ideas about soaring through the skies and getting into epic dogfights, but—whether or not this was a good thing—the reality was much more boring. Breezing through basic flight training, he was ready to take off, but found himself in a desk job as a clerk for the majority of his service.
While this may have been a disappointment to him, there was one silver lining to this period.
9. He Met Someone
Although his service in the Air Force didn’t live up to his expectations, Grissom at least had something back home that he could look forward to—or more accurately, someone. As high school sweethearts, Grissom had maintained his relationship with Betty Moore even as he joined the Air Force. They stayed committed to each other, and while he was on leave in July 1945, they took the next step and married.
Of course, when the conflict was over, he had to settle for something much more mundane.
10. He Got To Work
Without going much further than basic training, Grissom hadn’t achieved the experience as a pilot he was looking for before his discharge in 1945, so he had little choice but to find something else. Going home, he still needed to provide for himself and his new bride, so he began working at a bus manufacturing company.
At the same time, he always kept his eye on the career he truly wanted.
11. He Kept Studying
Even though he hadn’t gotten exactly what he wanted out of his service in the Air Force, Gus Grissom still came away with a leg up, and wouldn’t give up on his dream so easily. Using the GI Bill to fund a portion of his tuition, he continued his studies at Purdue University, determined to have an aviation career no matter the cost.
Unfortunately, this meant he would once again be alone for a while.
12. They Were Separated
Grissom was happily married by the time he began his college career, but sadly, he couldn’t see his wife as much as he would have liked during his first semester. In need of campus housing, Grissom had to take whatever the university had to offer, which wasn’t much. He couldn’t find accommodations for both him and Betty, so she had to live with her parents while he roomed at Purdue.
Luckily, they wouldn’t have to stay apart forever.
13. She Joined Him
Gus and Betty Grissom likely felt as if it was forever before they could finally live together again, but in reality, it was only a semester that they spent apart. Nonetheless, as Grissom began his second semester, he switched to a one-bedroom apartment that allowed her to move in, and the two lived there for the rest of his college years.
Unfortunately, the GI Bill only covered so much—but he had someone to help him.
14. She Supported Him
Gus did his best to provide for himself and Betty through any work he could find outside of school, but even then, his income wasn’t enough to put bread on the table and pay the rest of his tuition. Fortunately, he had Betty to lean on, and she took a job at the Indiana Bell Telephone Company to support them both. This all paid off, and in 1950, Gus graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
Now that his studies were over, he knew exactly where he was going next.
15. He Enlisted Again
Reaching the end of his time at Purdue, Grissom realized he hadn’t finished fighting for his country, and he went right back to the Air Force, this time determined to be a pilot. He would need to complete a Basic Training Program again at an Air Force base in Texas, but he wasn’t complaining, as long as he could touch the sky at last.
Finally, although it took longer than expected, he got what he wanted.
16. He Got His Wings
After years of studying and hard work, during which he more than proved his aptitude for aviation, Grissom finally achieved what he had dreamt about since he was a young boy. He was a pilot, and after receiving his wings in early 1951, he accepted his commission as a second lieutenant and joined the 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron.
He wasn’t a moment too early, as another fight had just begun.
17. He Joined The Fight
Grissom had already lived through one major world conflict, but another was just around the corner, as America joined the war in Korea just a few months after he earned his wings. This time, Grissom wouldn’t be just sitting behind a desk, and over the course of six months, he flew in 100 combat missions.
Just like when he was young, he couldn’t help but excel at everything he did.
18. He Did Great Work
Gus Grissom was one of the best pilots America had, but one incident in particular earned him even higher acclaim—and a promotion. While flying cover for a photo reconnaissance mission in March 1952, he demonstrated such courage and prowess that he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, having already earned the rank of first lieutenant shortly before.
Many would have been satisfied with these achievements, but not Grissom.
19. He Wanted To Stay
The Air Force had only required him to fly 100 missions, but after completing his final one, Grissom was eager to get back out in the sky. In fact, rather than accept his discharge and return home, he requested that they grant him another 25 missions; however, the Air Force declined. Intending to remain a pilot, he instead took a job as a flight instructor in Bryan, Texas.
Still, while he was out of the fight, that didn’t mean the danger was behind him.
20. He Crash Landed
If Grissom thought his job as a flight instructor would be any less exciting than his previous pilot work, he would have another thing coming on one specific day, when something went horribly wrong. While flying with a student of his, Grissom had to quickly take over when the cadet accidentally broke off one of their flaps. The plane started to roll, but thankfully, Grissom was able to stabilize and land it without any injuries or worse.
This didn’t stop him from flying, however, and he hadn’t finished studying either.
21. He Continued His Education
While being a flight instructor was a good backup job for Gus Grissom, it wasn’t what he envisioned himself doing for the rest of his life. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to. Through a reassignment to the US Air Force Institute of Technology, he decided to continue his education and, after a year, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aeromechanics.
Although he may have had his own plans for the future, something else was brewing behind the scenes.
22. He Received A Secret Message
While Grissom was trying to figure out how best to put his new degree to good use, America was busy putting its own plans in motion, which he would learn about soon enough. Opening his mail one day in 1959, he discovered a confidential message, urging him not to discuss its contents with anyone. While he wasn’t sure what it was about, he followed its orders without question, traveling to Washington, DC for a mysterious meeting.
Not only did he learn just what the US government was planning, he discovered just how special he was.
23. He Was Chosen
Once he arrived at the address in the letter, dressed in civilian clothes as requested, he finally discovered what all the secrecy was about. Unknown to the general public, America had just established its space program, but this didn’t mean he was about to be an astronaut yet. In fact, this whole meeting was simply because, out of 508 possible servicemen, he was just one of the 110 test pilots that the government wanted to let in on the secret.
He had all the qualities they wanted in a pilot for NASA, but they still needed to check all the boxes.
24. They Tested Him
Gus Grissom was a perfect candidate for the space program on paper, and he easily passed NASA’s initial screening, but they still had to be sure. Being a test pilot was about more than technical qualifications, especially with how mentally and physically demanding the job was, so he underwent several in-depth tests to determine the state of his body and psyche.
Ever the confident man, he likely thought this part would be a breeze—but he nearly lost it all.
25. He Almost Didn’t Make It
Grissom had already served extensively as a pilot in Korea, so there was likely not a doubt in his mind that he would pass these exams with flying colors. But something was wrong. Everything seemed fine at first, but the doctors grew more hesitant when he revealed his predisposition for hay fever. Thankfully, after assuring him that he would be fine—since there was no pollen in space—they gave him their stamp of approval.
Finally, after waiting in unbelievable suspense, he got his answer.
26. He Was The Best Of The Best
Grissom had already beaten out hundreds of other candidates just to join the space program, but in 1961, he had the opportunity to make history. Narrowing the pool even further, NASA only chose seven men to participate in Project Mercury, the first American program to send humans into space—and Gus Grissom was one of them.
Now that he had made it, it didn’t take him long to get comfortable.
27. He Gave It A Nickname
After his initial training period, Grissom received his assignment to the second flight of Project Mercury, where he would pilot the craft on a sub-orbital journey and—with any luck—touch back down on Earth safely. In what would become tradition, he gave his spacecraft a nickname, settling on “Liberty Bell 7,” before drawing a crack on its exterior to match its namesake.
With everything in place, all he needed to do was take off—but not everything went according to plan.
28. He Went To Space
While he wasn’t immune to the anxiety that came with such an operation, Grissom was ready to reach the stars, lifting off on July 21, 1961 and completing the 15-minute and 37-second flight. However, the trouble came once he returned to Earth, as after the craft splashed down into the Atlantic Ocean as planned, its hatch unexpectedly burst open, allowing the capsule to fill with seawater—but not before he managed to get out.
He had escaped certain doom for a second time, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
29. He Just Kept Swimming
Thankfully, Grissom had the instinct and strength to swim out of the capsule before getting trapped inside, but that didn’t mean he was home free. His spacesuit wasn’t in the best shape, and with one of his air inlets exposed, staying above the surface only became more difficult. Still, he hadn’t thrown in the towel yet and would stay afloat until help arrived.
While they were able to get him out, they couldn’t save everything.
30. They Lost It
Fighting against his own sinking spacesuit, Grissom managed to keep his head above water until the rescue helicopter arrived and lifted him to safety—but it wasn’t a complete recovery. Another helicopter had tried to salvage the rapidly sinking spacecraft, but as it was full of water, it was nearly impossible to lift. Ultimately, the helicopter had to release it, leaving it to sink to the ocean floor.
While there was no shortage of speculation after this, he knew where he stood.
31. He Wasn’t Responsible
While the hatch’s explosive release was an intentional design, it certainly wasn’t meant to open unprompted like that, leaving everyone baffled at what had actually happened. For Grissom’s part, he remained adamant that the accidental burst was not directly caused by his actions, even if he had no definitive explanation otherwise.
Luckily, although he was the only witness, he had logic on his side.
32. They Believed Him
As the crew of the Liberty Bell 7 consisted of Gus Grissom alone, he only had his own word to rely on to prove that he hadn’t caused the premature hatch release. Fortunately, the idea that he manually triggered the explosive release was much more ridiculous, as he would have needed to hit the switch with at least five pounds of force, likely giving him a nasty bruise. As he had no such mark, NASA saw no reason to blame him for the incident.
Fortunately, he would find it much easier to trust his next spacecraft—for one important reason.
33. He Was Very Involved
Grissom wasn’t only an accomplished pilot, but he also had two degrees that made him an asset on the engineering side, and NASA wasn’t going to keep him on the sidelines. After his period with Project Mercury, Grissom moved on to the new Project Gemini, this time playing a much bigger role in the actual spacecraft’s development. In fact, he was such a driving force that the other astronauts often called the craft “the Gusmobile”.
As time passed, something made his work especially easy to recognize.
34. They Couldn’t Fit
As an example of Grissom’s impact on the Gemini spacecraft’s design, there was one flaw that made the vessel perfect for him to pilot, but not for many others. When he was younger, his short stature had gotten in the way of his goals, but now he was the one setting the standard. As NASA discovered, the cockpit was just the right size for him, but most of the other astronauts were too big—a detail they fixed in later iterations.
This hadn’t been the only bit of humor around the spacecraft, especially since Grissom was quite the jokester himself.
35. They Didn’t Like It
While his disastrous first mission had been terrifying at the time, Grissom had learned to laugh about it in retrospect, and even carried on the joke with the Gemini spacecraft. Referencing the Broadway show The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Grissom nicknamed his new vessel “Molly Brown,” hoping it would not meet the same watery fate. NASA wasn’t a big fan of drawing more attention to the embarrassing incident, so they demanded he change the name.
Seeing this reaction coming, Grissom had a second option ready to go—but somehow he knew he wouldn’t need it.
36. They Gave In
Not one to give up on what he wanted so easily, Gus Grissom did exactly as his bosses asked and provided another choice for the spacecraft’s nickname—but they still weren’t happy. Sticking with the theme, Grissom offered the tongue-in-cheek option of “Titanic,” leaving the higher-ups to choose the lesser of two evils. In the end, they let him keep the nickname “Molly Brown,” even if they never used it officially.
He would get the chance to lead another mission—even if he wasn’t the first choice.
37. He Took The Helm
After surviving his Mercury 4 mission, Grissom was ready to get back into orbit as soon as possible, but at first, his only assignment was as backup for the Gemini 3 crew. However, the mission commander, Alan Shepard, unfortunately developed Ménière's disease, so NASA brought in Grissom as his replacement.
Considering how his last mission went, Grissom may have had some nerves, but he had nothing to worry about.
38. He Made History Again
Summoning enough courage for another space flight, Grissom launched with the rest of his crew on March 23, 1965, in what would be the first crewed flight of Project Gemini. Reaching the Earth’s orbit, they circled the planet three times for almost five hours before coming back down, making Gus Grissom the first human in history to fly to space twice.
Still, the program was far from over—and they had even loftier goals.
39. He Took Another Mission
Gus Grissom had already done more than most humans in history had even imagined, but he hadn’t finished his work by a long shot, and he already had his next assignment as a backup for Gemini 6A. However, he would soon find himself in another command position, this time for the first crewed mission of the new Apollo Program, which aimed to put a man on the moon.
While he tried his best to trust in the machinery, it still wasn’t perfect.
40. He Was Annoyed
As the Apollo Program was NASA’s most ambitious project, it required even more rigorous testing, but that didn’t mean the equipment was exactly cutting-edge. In fact, Grissom rarely went through a simulation without finding a technical flaw, and he became so bitter about it that others began calling him “Gruff Gus”.
Sadly, he wouldn’t discover just how right he was until it was too late.
41. He Was Testing It
Growing ever closer to their planned launch date, Grissom and his crew became more and more concerned that they wouldn’t be ready, but they would soon have much worse things to worry about. On January 27, 1967, less than a month away from the launch, they were undergoing another simulation in the Command Module when Grissom suddenly screamed one word over the radio: “Fire!”
Before anyone knew what was going on, the test had failed—and Grissom’s luck had run out.
42. They Were Lost
Gus Grissom had faced his end several times already and survived each encounter, but as a fire broke out in the Command Module and engulfed the cockpit, he wouldn’t be so fortunate. In a cruel twist of irony, neither he nor his two crew members had time to open the hatch before they all tragically perished from asphyxiation.
Unlike the Mercury 4 mission, NASA managed to figure out what went wrong.
43. They Found The Source
Grissom had spent weeks complaining about all the issues he saw in the spacecraft, but many at NASA simply dismissed these concerns as just Gruff Gus being Gruff Gus. In the end, he had been right all along, as it was later discovered that the fire’s source was faulty wiring within the Command Module.
Technically, Grissom and his crew never had the chance to complete their mission—but they were no less deserving of the honor.
44. They Officially Named It
Utterly rocked by this sudden and disastrous accident, those in charge at NASA still had to press forward with the rest of the Apollo Program, but they also weren’t about to minimize the impact of Grissom and his crew. Rather than invalidate the mission that never was, NASA officially designated it “Apollo 1”.
No matter how much time passed, this horrific incident was never forgotten.
45. They Put It On Display
The horrible demise of Gus Grissom and the other Apollo 1 crew members went down in history as an unnecessary sacrifice on humanity’s road to the stars, and the US Astronaut Hall of Fame wanted to honor that. Opening in 1990, the museum asked Grissom’s family for several of his belongings for an exhibit, including the suit he wore for his Mercury 4 mission.
His family graciously agreed to hand it over—but not for long.
46. They Wanted It Back
For a little over a decade, Grissom’s space suit sat on display at the Astronaut Hall of Fame for anyone to see, but it wouldn’t be there forever due to one common yet devastating problem—bankruptcy. It turns out the museum wasn’t as successful as some expected, and when it finally shut its doors, Grissom’s family expected it to return all his belongings.
Suddenly, they were regretting lending anything in the first place.
47. They Wouldn’t Give It Up
Although Gus Grissom’s career with the space program had already caused his family no small measure of grief, those in charge saw no problem with adding to their pain. While they returned nearly all of the late astronaut’s possessions, they held onto his space suit, asserting that his family had no right to it.
The family had a clear story to back up their claim, but it wasn’t enough.
48. They Couldn’t Agree
Astounded at NASA’s decision to keep Grissom’s space suit, his family countered their claim by contending that he had salvaged the suit and brought it home after NASA threw it out. The space program denied these events, arguing that Grissom had received permission to bring it to his son’s school to show the other children, but failed to give it back afterward.
Ultimately, only one side could have what they wanted—and it wouldn’t be his family.
49. They Showcased It Again
It was the Grissom family’s word against that of the American Space Program, so while both sides may have been certain about their stories, it was clear that the space suit wasn’t going anywhere. This became especially evident when, in 2016, it joined another exhibit, this time at the Kennedy Space Center Hall of Fame.
Although Gus Grissom made it farther than most only dreamt of, he still could have flown higher.
50. He Would Have Been The First
Only two years after Grissom’s untimely end, humanity would finally reach the Moon, and Neil Armstrong would be the first man to set foot on it. But this could have turned out completely different. There’s no telling what heights Gus Grissom would have reached if he hadn’t perished that day, but given his impressive record in the Air Force and engineering prowess, many believe he might have been right up there with Armstrong—or even in his place.
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