Virgil "Gus" Grissom born 1926

Virgil "Gus" Grissom, born April 3, 1926, was an astronaut in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs.

His first flight was aboard Mercury-Redstone 4, nicknamed the Liberty Bell 7 in July 1961.  The flight lasted 15 minutes, 30 seconds and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. Explosive bolts on the hatch cover accidentally blew and the capsule sank.  Grissom was in danger of drowning but was rescued by a US Navy helicopter.

His second flight was aboard Gemini III (nicknamed Molly Brown) with fellow astronaut John Young.  They made three orbits and splashed down just under 5 hours later.

Grissom passed away January 27, 1967 in the Apollo 1 capsule during a routine launch test.  A fire broke out inside the pure oxygen atmosphere, killing him and fellow astronauts Roger Chaffee and Ed White.

John Young, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1930

John W. Young, born September 24, 1930 in San Francisco, California, has been referred to as NASA's most experienced astronaut.  He was the only person to participate in three different space programs. 

In the 1960s, he flew on Gemini 3 and Gemini 10.  He flew on Apollo 10 and Apollo 16, making him one of three people to go to the moon twice.  In the 1980s, he flew twice on Columbia (STS-1), the first space shuttle flight, and again on STS-9.

After 42 years with NASA, he retired in December 2004.  He passed away in January 2018 from complications from pneumonia. 

Apollo 16 launched 1972

Apollo 16 crew (L-R): Ken Mattingly, John Young, Charles Duke

Mission patch

Apollo 16, launched April 16, 1972, was the fifth mission to land on the moon and the tenth manned mission in NASA's Apollo program.  Its crew consisted of Commander John Young, Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke.

On Day 5 of the mission, Young and Duke undocked from the Command Module Casper and prepared the Lunar Lander Orion for landing.  They touched down in the lunar highlands, the area of the moon with brighter surfaces.

Young and Duke (the youngest person to walk on the moon) spent 71 hours on the lunar surface, which included three EVAs totalling just over 20 hours.  They drove almost 17 miles in the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

Ken Mattingly performed a one-hour EVA to retrieve several film cassettes from the exterior of the Service Module.

On April 23, the lunar module blasted off and rendezvoused with the Command Module.  They splashed down April 27 in the South Pacific Ocean.

Remembering astronaut John Young (1930-2018)

John Watts Young, an astronaut whose career spanned the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, passed away yesterday at age 87.  In 1965, he flew on the first manned Gemini mission, Gemini 3 and was commander of Gemini X in July 1966.

On Apollo 10, he became the first person to orbit the moon and drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the moon during the Apollo 16 mission.  He is one of three people to go to the moon twice.

In April 1981, he commanded the first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1 on Columbia.  His sixth and final mission was commander on Columbia (STS-9) in November 1983.

Columbia (STS-9) launches 1983

 

L-R: Owen Garriott, Byron Lichtenberg, Brewster Shaw, John Young, Ulf Merbold, Robert Parker

Mission patch

The sixth mission of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-9), launched November 28, 1983, carried the first Spacelab module into orbit.  She carried six astronauts for the first time.  Her crew consisted of Commander John Young, Pilot Brewster Shaw, Missional Specialist Owen Garriott (Okie!), Mission Specialist Robert Parker, Payload Specialist Ulf Merbold, and Payload Specialist Byron Lichtenberg.  Merbold was the first non-U.S. citizen, the first West German citizen (remember this was before the Berlin Wall came down), and the first ESA astronaut in space.

Garriott made the first ham radio transmissions from space during the flight.  The crew carried out numerous experiments on the effects of low gravity on the human body.  See the highlight video below.

Columbia landed December 8, ten days after launch.  The crew was looking forward to taking showers since they had not been able to for over a week.  What did Columbia smell like on the inside after they landed?

Happy birthday, Oklahoma astronaut Tom Stafford!

Thomas "Tom" Stafford, born September 17, 1930 in Weatherford, Oklahoma, is an astronaut who has flown in two Gemini missions, Apollo 10 and an Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.  He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland before being accepted by NASA to be an astronaut September 17, 1962.

What a birthday present!

In December 1965, he piloted Gemini VI which performed the first rendezvous in space with Wally Schirra.  Less than six months later, he commanded Gemini IX with Eugene Cernan in  June 1966.

He commanded Apollo 10 in May 1969 with Eugene Cernan and John Young to the moon.  It was considered a 'dry run' for the first lunar landing.

In 1975, he commanded the Apollo spaceship with Vance Brand and Deke Slayton the first rendezvous with the Soviet Soyuz, a milestone in space history.

Gemini 10 launched 1966

Pilot Michael Collins and Command Pilot John W. Young took off July 18, 1966 in Gemini 10 (officially Gemini X), the 8th Gemini flight and the16th manned American flight.  Collins performed two EVAs, one of which involved an attempt to engage the Agena module from the Gemini 8 mission but was unsuccessful.

They returned to Earth just less than 3 days after lift-off.

Apollo 10 launches 1969

Apollo 10, the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to travel to the moon (Apollo 8 was the first), launched May 18, 1969.  The mission was a "dress rehearsal" for an actual landing on the moon by Apollo 11, two months later.

On board were Commander Thomas P. Stafford (from Oklahoma!), Command Module Pilot John W. Young, and Lunar Module Pilot Eugene A. Cernan.  The Command Module was given the nickname Charlie Brown and the Lunar Module was dubbed Snoopy.

During the descent stage in the Lunar Module (Snoopy), the craft began to roll because Stafford and Cernan made duplicate commands in the computer.  Snoopy rolled over eight times before they brought it under control, just 2 seconds before crashing onto the moon's surface.

Also, the crew of Apollo 10 reported hearing strange music on the far side of the moon.  Some suggested aliens but most likely, it was interference between the lunar and command (Charlie Brown) modules.

Gemini 3 launched 1965

Gemini 3 crew: Gus Grissom (L) and John Young

Gemini 3, the first American two-man mission in space and the first flight of NASA's Gemini program, launched from Cape Kennedy March 23, 1965.  Commander Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Pilot John Young made history.  Grissom had nicknamed the spacecraft Molly Brown, after the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, in hopes that the fate of his Mercury flight, Liberty Bell would not repeat itself.  Liberty Bell sank after splashdown.

Although, Gemini 3 did not sink, a miscalculation from the wind tunnel tests put the capsule 45 miles from its intended splashdown point.  Grissom and Young had to wait half an hour before they were recovered.

Space Shuttle Columbia's 6th mission, launched 1983

L-R: Mission Specialist 1 Owen K. Garriott, Payload Specialist II Byron Lichtenberg, Pilot Brewster H. Shaw, Commander John W. Young, Payload Specialist 1 Ulf Merbold, Mission Specialist 2 Robert A. Parker.

Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off November 28, 1983 on her sixth mission.  Her commander was John Young, his sixth mission as well.  It was the largest crew to date, six!!  She carried the first Spacelab moduleand the first European Space Agency representative (West German Ulf Merbold).

John Young is the 9th person to walk on the moon and the first person to make 6 space flights.  Owen Garriott, who hails from Enid, Oklahoma, spent 56 days aboard Skylab 3 in 1973.

They landed safely December 8, 1983 at Edwards.

First Space Shuttle Launched 1981!

The launch of the first space shuttle, Columbia (STS-1), took place April 12, 1981, with Commander John Young and Pilot Bob Crippen on board.  They orbited the earth 37 times in just over 2 days.  By coincidence, Columbia was launched on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic spaceflight in Vostok 1.