Liftoff Videos

Every mission, with the videos that tell it

Gus Grissom

Portrait photograph of Gus Grissom

Photo: NASA / Public domain (US government work)

Gus Grissom (1926–1967) was a US Air Force officer and one of the seven original Mercury astronauts. In July 1961 he became the second American in space, on the suborbital flight of Liberty Bell 7. In March 1965 he commanded Gemini 3, the first crewed Gemini flight. He was named commander of Apollo 1. On January 27, 1967, he died with Ed White and Roger Chaffee in a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal, before the mission could fly.

Born
3 April 1926
Died
27 January 1967
Country
United States
Flights
2: Mercury-Redstone 4 (1961), Gemini 3 (1965)
Time in space
5 hours 7 minutes

Data as of 2 November 2026. Source: Wikidata (CC0). All people who have flown in space.

Events

Videos on this topic

The videos, in date order

Drag, zoom or press play to watch them on this page.

  1. Apollo 1: How a Pure Oxygen Cabin Fire Killed Three Astronauts

    BBC Earth Science
Play video: Apollo 1: How a Pure Oxygen Cabin Fire Killed Three Astronauts

Apollo 1: How a Pure Oxygen Cabin Fire Killed Three Astronauts

BBC Earth Science

Duration 4:09

Watch video

Dates are when each video was first published on YouTube.

All the videos

  1. Apollo 1: How a Pure Oxygen Cabin Fire Killed Three Astronauts

    DocumentaryBBC Earth Science · 4:09

    Mission: Apollo 1 (1967)

Related topics

Follow a program, a vehicle, a destination, an agency or a kind of mission.

People in space