Famous Freemason - Virgil Grissom

"I had never been much of a science-fiction or Buck Rogers fan. I was more interested in what was going on right now than in the centuries to come."

Virgil Ivan ‘Gus’ Grissom was a pioneer astronaut who made the second crewed U.S. spaceflight. Bro. Grissom was killed in a launch pad fire at Cape Canaveral, Florida, while testing the Apollo 1 space capsule in 1967. The tragedy, however, led to many vital best practice changes that finally paved the way for the successful Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

Bro. Grissom was born in Mitchell, Indiana. He attended Mitchell High School While still in high school he made regular trips to nearby Bedford Airport. There he took an interest in flying. An attorney in town who had his own plane started taking him up for a $1 a flight and taught him the basics of flight.

In November of 1943, Bro. Grissom pre-enlisted in the Army Air Force when he successfully completed the entrance exam. When he graduated in 1944, he joined the Army. After being inducted at Fort Benjamin Harrison, he attended boot camp and was assigned as a clerk in Texas.

As the war ended, Bro. Grissom sought a discharge. He used his G.I. Bill to enroll in Purdue University in 1946. He graduated from Purdue in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Grissom re-enlisted, this time in the newly formed United States Air Force. He was accepted into cadet flight training and in 1951 earned his pilot wings. After traveling to several bases around the United States, he was attached to the 334th Fighter Squadron of the 4th Interceptor Wing stationed at Kimpo Air Base. Bro. Grissom flew 100 combat missions as a wingman and never engaged in aerial combat.

In 1955, Bro. Grissom was reassigned to the United States Institute of Technology. There he earned Bachelor's degree in Aeromechanics. In 1956 he was assigned as a test pilot.

In 1958,Bro. Grissom received an official top secret teletype. He was directed to go to an address in Washington D.C. in civilian clothes. There he learned he was one of 110 pilots who had been chosen to learn more about the new American space program. He was subjected to a battery of physical and psychological tests. During the test he was almost disqualified due to hay-fever, fortunately the doctors realized there was no ragweed pollen in space. In 1959, he received official word he was one of the 7 Mercury astronauts.

In 1964, Grissom became part of the Gemini program. In 1965 he became the command pilot of the first manned flight of the Gemini program. He became the first NASA astronaut to fly in space twice. Bro. Grissom named his capsule Molly Brown in reference to a popular Broadway play The Unsinkable Molly Brown. NASA officials demanded he change the name, so Bro. Grissom and his Pilot suggested Titanic. NASA executives relented and allowed the capsule to be named Molly Brown, but the name was not to be used in any official capacity. It lasted until launch when Gordon Cooper, one of Bro. Grissom's fellow Mercury astronauts, said to hi,and his pilot after launch "You're on your way, Molly Brown!"

Bro.Grissom was raised in Mitchell Lodge No.228, Mitchell, Indiana.