1926-1967

American engineer and astronaut who was the second American in space during a 1961 suborbital Mercury test flight in the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft, which sank in the Atlantic after splashdown (the capsule was recovered in 1999). After earning his Air Force wings (in 1951) and flying over 100 combat missions in Korea, "Gus" Grissom was the command pilot on the first manned Gemini flight (1965). He died tragically with two other astronauts in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire (1967) during a countdown simulation test.