VIRGIL GUS GRISSOM Signed Check. Canceled check from Virgil Gus Grissom’s personal checking account. This check was written and signed by Grissom less than five months before his historic July 21, 1961 Project Mercury flight. Check is written in his hand, signed in black ink and is fine condition. Grissom, in full Virgil Ivan Grissom, by name Gus Grissom born April 3, 1926, Mitchell, Ind. 27, 1967, Cape Kennedy, Fla. Astronaut to travel in space and the command pilot of the ill-fated Apollo 1 crew. He and his fellow astronauts Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee were killed, becoming the first casualties of the U. Space program, when a flash fire swept their space capsule during a simulation of the scheduled Feb. 21, 1967, launching of Apollo 1. Commissioned in the U. Air Force in 1951, Grissom flew 100 missions in the Korean War, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with cluster. He was a test pilot and flying instructor until 1959, when he was selected as one of the original seven astronauts for Project Mercury. On July 21, 1961, with a 15-minute suborbital journey aboard the space capsule Liberty Bell 7, Grissom became the third man to enter space. Upon splashdown, the explosive bolts of the capsules hatch unexpectedly opened, and Grissom immediately had to leave Liberty Bell 7, which sank in more than 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) of water. On March 23, 1965, Grissom became the first man to return to space as he (as command pilot) and Lieutenant Commander John W. Young made three orbits in the first manned Gemini flight, Gemini 3. During that flight Grissom demonstrated that a space capsule could be maneuvered manually. This is one of the Best guarantees anywhere! The item “VIRGIL GUS GRISSOM Autographed Inscribed SIgned Check Document NASA Astronaut” is in sale since Tuesday, January 20, 2015. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Autographs\Space”. The seller is “legendsinhistory” and is located in California. This item can be shipped to United States.