Former USAF pilot Gus Grissom was selected from a group of 110 test pilots to join NASA’s Mercury Project space program, the space agency’s first foray into manned space exploration. In 1961, Gus was the pilot on the second Mercury Project flight.
Three years later, Gus was selected as the pilot for the Gemini 3, the first manned flight of the new Gemini Program. This made Gus the first person to travel into space twice.
In 1967, NASA created the Apollo Program, the agency’s next phase of space exploration. Gus, was selected as commander of Apollo 1, along with senior pilot Ed White and pilot Roger Chaffee. This would make Gus the first person to travel into space on three separate missions. However, in a pre-flight test, the interior of the Command Module caught fire and all three astronauts died on the launchpad.
Gus was 40 years old. He spent a total of 5 hours and three minutes in space.