GUS GRISSOM
Gus Grissom flew the second
mission about the Liberty Bell 7. Among the many changes to the craft was a
newly designed explosive hatch. His suborbital flight ended approximately
fifteen minutes after lift-off when Liberty Bell 7 popped its chutes and landed
safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
What happened next is speculative.
Either way, the hatch blew off and water flooded the cabin. Although Grissom
was saved, the craft sank. Liberty Bell 7 was recently been recovered from the
bottom of the sea and is being studied to find the cause of the hatch
blowing.
In 1965, Grissom commanded the 2 man Gemini project's Molly
Brown on a fully successful mission.
Moving closer to putting a man on
the moon, in 1967, NASA selected the three men who would fly the maiden Apollo
voyage scheduled for February 1967. Commander Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward
White and Roger Chaffee. On January 27, 1967, a flash fire occurred in command
module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle. All
three astronauts were killed.
JOHN GLENN
"Godspeed, John
Glenn."
On Feb. 20, 1962 John Glenn circled the Earth three times
spending five hours in orbit in the craft, Friendship 7. This flight made Glenn
a hero, such a national treasure in fact, that they could not risk allowing him
into space again. That is, until 1998 when he flew on Shuttle Discovery at 76
years old.
SCOTT CARPENTER
May 24, 1962, Scott Carpenter would
go up next in the Aurora 7 for another 3 orbit, 4 hour flight. He never flew
again.
WALLY SCHIRRA
October 3, 1962, Schirra made 6 orbits
spending 9 hours in Sigma 7. He would go on to fly on Gemini 6 and Apollo 7
accumulating 295 hours of spaceflight.
GORDON COOPER
May 15,
1963, Cooper flew Faith 7 on the last of the Mercury missions. He made 22.5
orbits and was in space for 1 day and 10 hours. Coope would fly again on Gemini
5 for a cummulative total in space of 225 hours.
DEKE
SLAYTON
Although he never flew a Mercury Mission, he accumulated over
217 hours in space as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test project. Slayton died in
1993 from complications of a brain tumor. |
