Who Was The First Person To Go To Space Twice?

Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom, born on April 3, 1926, was a mechanical engineer, a United States Air Force test pilot, and one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts. He was also the first member of the NASA Astronaut Corps to venture into space twice and the second American to fly in space. After being chosen as one of the Mercury Seven astronauts, he piloted the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft on the second American suborbital flight. However, the hatch of the spacecraft blew off, filling it with water and causing it to sink to the ocean's bottom.

Grissom's next flight was aboard the Molly Brown spacecraft during the Project Gemini Program, which was a successful mission. Unfortunately, he was killed along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (then known as Cape Kennedy), Florida. As the first of the Mercury Seven astronauts to pass away, he received posthumously both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.



During World War II, Grissom enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet. Near the end of the war, he sought discharge to marry Betty Moore, and after leaving the service, he pursued his degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue University, graduating in 1950. Grissom then reenlisted in the United States Air Force, earning his pilot's wings in 1951 and flying over 100 combat missions during the Korean War.