The known and unknown perils of space stayed their hand last week as the U.S. shot a second man into space with almost clockwork success. What made the second flight less successful than the first —and nearly cost Astronaut Virgil ("Gus") Grissom his life—was the same primitive danger that threatened the skin-covered boats of neolithic man: the hostile and brooding sea.
In space, the Mercury capsule that bore Grissom 118 miles above the earth was a functioning—if not always perfect—vehicle; in the salt water of the Atlantic, it became as vulnerable as a paper boat in a storm. The difference spelled a near disaster that taught the U.S. space program some valuable lessons, and may cause a third astronaut to be flung aloft before the program can proceed with its plan to put a man into orbit.
Before his ordeal, Astronaut Grissom went twice through the tedious preparations for flight,..sealed each time into the Mercury capsule Liberty Bell 7 on the nose of the Redstone rocket. Twice the shot was scrubbed when clouds over Cape Canaveral threatened to spoil the photographic record of the flight. Air Force Captain Grissom, 35, took it all in stride. "I'll be ready when you are," he told officials as he stretched his limbs after hours of fruitless waiting in the cramped capsule.
Not a Philosopher. Gus Grissom's almost stoic calm in the face of the unknown was the product of both an introspective nature and a long and dedicated apprenticeship. The smallest (5 ft. 7 in.), most soft-spoken and most reserved of the astronauts, he tried the Air Force briefly as an aviation cadet just before World War II ended, later re-entered it after getting a mechanical engineering degree at Purdue. He flew 100 combat missions in the Korean war (Distinguished Flying Cross, two Air Medals), returned to the U.S. as a pilot instructor at Bryan, Texas. Says his pretty wife, Betty (they have two boys): "He told me Korea was safer than teaching cadets how to fly. He said flying was even safer than driving a car."
Grissom has flown more than 3,000 hours, 2,000 of them in jets. Chosen as one of the seven astronauts in 1959, he went about his tasks quietly and efficiently, was almost unnoticed as he backstopped the more ebullient Commander Alan Shepard during the first shot. His specialty: control of the space capsule's, attitude system. After he was picked as an astronaut, he admitted that he sometimes lay in bed thinking: "Now what in the hell do I want to get up in that thing for?" He had his own answer. "I'm a test pilot," he said, "not a philosopher. I'm too busy to worry. This is a day-to-day job for me." Just before he climbed into his space capsule for the second time last week, a reporter cracked: "See you in a couple of days." Replied Grissom: "Yeah. I'll see you in a couple of days—or never."