Page 13 - The Appollo Story

.------------1 The Apollo Story1-----------

Apollo 1 (AS-204) Apollo's Darkest Hour
Gus Grissom had a tremendous influence on the design and manufacture of the Gemini spacecraft,
prompting the other astronauts to dub it the "Gusmobile." As Command Pilot for the first Gemini flight,
Gus was the first American to enter space twice. After a very successful Gemini flight with John Young
as his pilot, Gus was again selected to make the first flight of a new spacecraft, "Apollo."

Jn Memorium:
The "Hoosier" Astronaut
LT COL VIRGIL L "GUS" GRISSOM
Birthplace - Mitchell, Indiana
Graduate - Purdue University ME50

W estern Electric Stamp & Coin Club
Annual Fall Show - Oct 21-22, 1967
Eastgate Auditorium - India'napolis

------~ - - - ------- -- -

A cacheted cover prepared by the Stamp & Coin Club of Western Electric in Indianapolis for their an-
nual Autumn show in Memoriam of astronaut Gus Grissom.

"If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business,
and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the
program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life."
Lt. Col. V. I. "Gus" Grissom

>:•>:•April 3, 1926*>!•Janua ry 27,196 7>!•>.'<

Did You Know?
From the original seven Mercury Astronauts, Gus Grissom was chosen with John Glenn and Alan Shepard
as a candidate to be the first American in space. In fact he was the second American to go into space, fol-
lowing Alan Shepard's suborbital flight.
•