July 21, 1961: Project Mercury launches America's 2nd manned space mission, a capsule called Liberty Bell 7. Aboard is Lieutenant Colonel Gus Grissom of the U.S. Air Force.
Born in 1926 in Indiana, he was an aviation cadet in World War II and a fighter pilot in the Korean War. He was chosen as one of America's original astronauts, "The Mercury Seven," all of whom -- except for Donald "Deke" Slayton, who was initially grounded for a medical reason -- would fly aboard Mercury capsules with the number 7 on their missions.
Some people at NASA weren't happy that Grissom went by his nickname, Gus. But his real first name was Virgil, and that seemed a big too nerdy. So they asked him what his middle name was. It was Ivan. That wasn't going to work at the height of the Cold War. So they allowed Virgil Ivan Grissom to be listed as "Gus Grissom."
Like his only American predecessor, Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7, Grissom's flight was only meant to be suborbital: Up, then down, taking about 15 minutes. The flight went as expected until just after splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, when the hatch cover, designed to release explosively in the event of an emergency, accidentally blew. Grissom was at risk of drowning, but was recovered safely via a U.S. Navy helicopter. The spacecraft sank into the Atlantic and was not recovered until 1999.
Before airplane flights that crossed the "Karman Line" were retroactively listed as "spaceflights," Grissom was the 1st American astronaut to be given a 2nd spaceflight. It was aboard Gemini 3, the 1st manned flight of Project Gemini, so named because it would have 2 men aboard.
On March 23, 1965, Grissom and John Young made 3 orbits of the Earth aboard a capsule that was nicknamed Molly Brown, after the heroic socialite who saved some of the Titanic's passengers in 1912, and lived to be called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." The idea was, this capsule wouldn't sink after splashdown, and it didn't. The mission was a complete success. (In another odd connection with Grissom, "Molly" was a nickname: Her real name was Margaret.)
Grissom was meant to fly a 3rd time, aboard the 1st Apollo mission. But in 1967, he, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed during an engine test for Apollo 1. It was the world's 1st space program tragedy. Grissom was 40 years old, and died not by water, as had once been feared, but by fire.
In the 1983 film The Right Stuff, he was played by Fred Ward.
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July 21, 1961 was a Friday. These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 11-8 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Yankees scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th inning to win it, including a grand slam by Johnny Blanchard, making Luis Arroyo a winning pitcher in relief of Whitey Ford. Ford went 25-4 that season, winning the Cy Young Award, but, on this day, allowing 7 runs in 4 innings, this may have been his worst start of the season.
Roger Maris hit his 36th home run of the season, Mickey Mantle his 37th, and Yogi Berra his 12th. Blanchard's slam was his 10th homer. Maris would end the season with 61, Mantle with 54, Berra with 22 and Blanchard with 21.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Tony González hit a home run to win it in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ernie Banks did not play for the Cubs, but Billy Williams hit a home run.
* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Hank Aaron hit 2 home runs. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-5.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-1 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 1-for-4.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Washington Senators, 16-5 at the Los Angeles version of Wrigley Field.
* The Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The White Sox swept, 7-4 and 11-4. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-5 in each game.
* And the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants were rained out at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 22. The Giants swept, 12-2 and 5-3. Over the 2 games, Willie Mays went 6-for-10 with a home run and 4 RBIs, and Willie McCovey went 5-for-10 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk in the opener, and appeared only as a pinch-hitter in the nightcap, not reaching base.
