The Real Truth About America's Second Man in Space
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- Опубліковано 25 жов 2024
- What most people know about Astronaut Gus Grissom's Mercury space flight is a function of the 1983 movie “The Right Stuff,” based on Tom Wolfe’s book of the same name. But is Hollywood's portrayal of the fate of Liberty Bell 7 accurate?
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Thanks for helping to set the record straight on Gus Grissom.
Indeed! Amen to THAT!
The Right Stuff is entertainment, not history. It's a shame so many people think it's true. Gus deserves better. Thanks for setting the record straight.
When that came out I simply refused to watch it just because from childhood I used to avidly read and watch everything I could about both aviation and the space program. And already saw too much hype and BS just in the commercials.
Its Hollywood.
You make it sound as if the movie portrayed the important bits wrong, when it didnt. The rumors started in reality, the movie doesn't claim Gus blew the hatch, it mostly deals with the aftermath. That it did not convey the minute details of what lead to the situation isnt the most important thing of the plot, the fallout for him was. In reality he record was set straight at a later time, hence why the movie did not deal with that.
The movie did Grissom horrible disservice.
@@Chilly_Billy the actual event that they portrayed did that, not the movie itself. I guess they should have just skipped over that part huh.
In college I interned/worked in the "clean room" at Mac and met Gus Grissom twice. He came across to as a no-nonsense type and was considered a good engineer. Some of the crew at the Cape nicknamed him "Gruesome Gus", but only behind his back. I always felt he was a scapegoat on the sinking of Liberty Bell and thank you for your coverage.
Good job Ward. Gus didn't deserve the bad reputation the book and movie gave him. And it was the first time I heard about the contribution of static discharge on a component that wasn't properly tested before. Well done sir!
Actually it was just the movie. The book did him right.
I actually liked the movie till I read the book. Then, I didn’t like the movie much. There are several things the movie changed for the sake of drama. The movie also left out the best part. Gordo’s complete flight. They cut it way early.
@@lorentzinvariant7348 You are right, I think the movie extrapolated the feeling that the book attributes only to “Edwards' people”
@@lorentzinvariant7348agree 100%! It would have been amazing to see gordo full flight in the movie
I cannot recommend the book highly enough. The movie? Probably never watch it again.
My cousin John Hines quit the astronaut program when Gus Grissom died in the Apollo fire. They were best friends. Now they are all gone.
I live in the Huntsville area. We used to schools named for White, Chaffee and Grissom, but Ed White Middle School is closed now. The other two are still operating.
Was your cousin John Hines an astronaut in 1967? Not a name I've heard before.
@@thomasneal4775 No, He was in training when the fire occurred, John went on to fly the F-105 Thud,2 years in and over Nam, never put a scratch on his plane. He was quite a man.
They're not gone. They are home.
Ward,
Thank you for this. Gus Grissom deserves a clean record of his impressive life.
While The Right Stuff is one of my favorite movies, it is still Hollywood. If the events portrayed in the film had been remotely true, NASA never would’ve put Gus on the first flights of Gemini and Apollo.
To quote Yeager in the film “Ol’ Gus did all right“.
Now, it still pisses me off that Star Trek III blew up the USS Grissom. That was a slap in the face.
On a 7-day bike ride to various Indiana state parks,we rolled into Spring Mill just outside Mitchell; located just inside the park is the Gus Grissom Memorial museum. Thanks for covering Gus' history.
Excellent vid! Thanks for helping to educate and enlighten the masses. NASA wouldn't have given Gus the 2nd Mercury, 1st Gemini, and 1st Apollo if they didn't trust him. "'Ole Gus, He did alright!"
Excellent point for sure……unfortunately the operators manuals to all aircraft are written in blood……also, like a previous comment, the movie ‘The Right Stuff’ was for entertainment not a documentary.
Gus Grissom is an American hero and deserves to remembered as such. His death with White and Chaffee was a national tragedy.
@@thelefthandedshooter381 very true.
Thanks again, Mooch for a great explanation of history. You helped put Gus’ situation in perspective and restore some honor that this brave astronaut was robbed.
@@jonathancarroll1283 Yes. The astronaut community knew his qualifications and that he wasn’t prone to panicking but the movie audiences didn’t and many people probably left the theatre wondering how the heck Gus ever became an astronaut. Pretty ridiculous but unfortunately, a lot of people probably still think that.
@@mako88sb Some folk want drama. And someone will provide it if steady hands and nerves do not provide that, Hence "stories" are created. A shame to dis-honour someone.
As a young kid I remember watching Liberty Bell 7’s accident. Before he even got on board the carrier the Navy was saying it was Gus’s fault. Nothing was ever said about him almost drowning. The “Right Stuff” only seemed to accentuate that. I always figured that there was more to the real story.
I don’t ever recall media coverage of him receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor for space. He always seemed to get the raw end of things.
Thank You for doing the research and informing us!
At the Air Force honored him by renaming Bunker Hill AFB, IN to Grissom AFB, IN.
Truth exposed! Thank you for honoring this man. I had his autograph as one of three Apollo 1 astronauts who signed a color crew photo. A gift from my father when I was a little girl.
Gus Grissom is, and will always be, a great American hero! Ward, you honor him with this episode. 🙏🏻 🇺🇸
Nice job explaining an incident I'd never heard of, as well as keeping Gus Grissom's memory alive.
So sorry Gus. You didn't "screw the pooch". The situation went sideways and you got caught in the 'shit storm'. The 'cherry' on your career was to die such a horrible death as an astronaut. You had the Right Stuff, all along. God speed, Gus.
The static build up was a constant issue in helicopter operations. Not only had I been shocked during SAR missions in the CG, but on one medivac of a ten year old boy from a charter boat off Southern California a member of the crew on the boat, after being briefed to allow the basket to contact the deck before handling it, TWICE (second hoist was the boy's father) grabbed the rescue basket before it made contact. Both times I witnessed him react to getting shocked along with blue sparks in his hair (twilight hours).
Ward, you've done it again. That's an excellent report. I remember as a teenager watching this mission unfold. When they said that he panicked and blew the hatch himself I never believed it at all. For the same reasons you stated. If he was going to panic he would have panicked well before the mission not after it.
The fact that he was allowed to stay in the program and given more responsibilities surely stand as proof that NASA knew what he said was right. That it was a glitch in their equipment and not a fault of him.
Thanks for helping set the record straight. 🇺🇲🦅
@@carlmontney7916 Yes. The Right Stuff is a great movie except that BS nonsense about Gus. Unfortunately a lot of people that have seen the movie don’t know the truth.
this happened when I was a kid, aspiring to be a pilot. Good Story. I'm now retired Airbus Captain (38 year career) and every night I look up at the heavens and wonder "what if" ....... thanks for the story Ward.
If an astronaut screwed up, he did not fly again. Guss flew on Gemini and at the time Guss died he was first in line to be the first man on the moon. NASA had 110% confidence in Guss Grissom. He did it right.
If Gus was a “bad” astronaut/pilot, he wouldn’t have flown again. He commanded the first Gemini flight and we know what happened with Apollo.
It's more of a case of not being replaceable. You already picked seven guys. And said they were the best of the best.
@@WALTERBROADDUS Not True. Malcom Scott Carpenter was quietly removed from flight status after his performance on the second orbital flight following John Glenn, Mercury-Atlas 7.
@@WALTERBROADDUS No. By the time Gemini came around, NASA had already recruited 9 new astronauts, dubbed "the new nine" (where else would John Young have come from?). There wasn't a shortage, Gus was considered to be the best and most respected of the astronauts by the time crew selections for Gemini were made. NASA didn't lose trust in his capabilities as an astronaut. In fact, had he, White & Chaffee not perished in the Apollo 1 fire, Grissom would have been selected to command the first Lunar Landing attempt.
Ironically it was a hatch operated by pyrotechnics that almost killed Grissom on Liberty Bell 7 and a hatch that should have had pyrotechnic operation that killed him on Apollo 1.
Back in the early days NASA was a “use it first, test it later” operation. Now they’ve come a radical 180 degrees around going through many weeks of studying copious test results engaging in anguished hand wringing before refusing to allow their “test pilot” astronauts to return on a Boeing Starliner that everyone who gave it any serious thought knew was safe.
I remember reading about Schirra giving his proof that Grissom was not at fault.
Dennis Quaid made a point of mentioning the inaccuracy of the story represented in the film The Right Stuff. it was done to put some drama into the story. I think it would have been just fine to keep the truth, as losing the capsule was enough excitement.
Grissom was a real hero.
With the Gemini mission, they were supposed to open the doors after splash down. But Gus kept them shut the whole time to make a point.
During my youth I watched the space program like most kids. These guys were and remain Heros ...so Brave and Intelligent!
Everything was an Unknown.
Thank you Ward. Don't know why I had to wait all these years to hear this explanation. Great job. Thank you. Keep up the good work.
As I recall... the remaining "7" astronauts refused to help out with the making of The Right Stuff because of the way the movie portrayed Gus. Ironically, the movie goes on to show how close the astronauts became and how they looked out for each other.
My grade school was named after Grissom. Naturally, he became one of my heroes and I ended up busting my butt in school so I could learn to fly. Thanks for helping to clear his name.
Phenomenal accounting of the actual events. How anyone could insinuate a man like Grissom could panic is beyond me. He had ice running through his veins, and was a consumate professional.
That was a great update. Gus Grissom was one of my heros. I went to Gus Grissom Elementary School, the former PS-19 in Old Bridge, N.J.
Al Shepard was quoted as hating the film The Right Stuff because of the way that his close friend Gus Grissom was portrayed, which was totally different from the man. He was not apologetic about what occurred with the hatch. Gus was a test pilot and handled himself like one.
I can still remember most of the original astronauts . I had a model of the Mercury Redstone that suffered a primitive attempt at flight when I stuffed it full of skyrockets at the age of ten or so. That was the end of my career in rocket science although I continued blowing stuff up for many years. Almost every kid I knew had the right stuff for that. Well.. except for Allen Taylor.
Outstanding UA-cam journalism!
Unfortunately, the movie that slurred Grissom has been seen by millions, only thousands will see this video exoneration.
I first learned about the helicopter static discharge thing from “The Hunt for Red October.” ⚡️⚡️⚡️🌊🌊🌊
Love when Mooch puts on his History Channel hat. 🎩
It's a big deal, all Navy aircrews are taught about how to deal with it in the case of a water rescue.
and also to be careful what you shoot at because most things in a nuclear sub don't react well to bullets.
Chris Kraft, Flight Director for the Mercury flights, was merciless…and kept Grissom on.
I dropped my youngest off at Purdue this fall. We were walking past Grissom hall so I made him and my wife walk in the side entrance. There in the alcove was the very same five foot tall picture of Gus in his Mercury spacesuit in the display case. The very same portrait that has been in that case since I was attending in the early 80's. FWIW, Chaffee hall is out at the airport. Never had any classes there.
For those of you interested and near Mitchell IN, there is a Gus Grissom Memorial (museum) at Spring Mill State Park. It's worth your time if you're in the area.
It was a real gift growing up as a young boy and having the seven Mercury astronauts as my heroes. Also from Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff: "Ol' Gus, he did all right. It takes a special kind of man to volunteer for a suicide mission, especially one that's on TV".
10:00 *RIP John Young (first space shuttle commander), **10:12** Gus/Roger/Ed (1967)*
It wasn't just Wally Schirra. IIRC, to a man, ALL of the surviving Mercury 7 astronauts vehemently defended Gus Grissom after the film came out. I think they would have appreciated how you put your NavAir Safety Center hat back on when you did this review.
And, clearly, NASA didn't think he, "screwed the pooch." IMHO, the best evidence of that is that, if they had, he never would have flown again, let alone been named as Mission Commander of Gemini 3 and Apollo 1.
Excellent five-minute brief, Sir. Thanks, and Bravo Zulu.
Thanks Ward. I loved the space flights when I was a boy. My old man was crash rescue at El Toro and he took my brother and I to meet John Glenn on the tarmac. We were such a different country then.
The Right Stuff was one of my Dad's favorite movies, and also one of mine, having been born in 1960 and witnessing a lot of the space race on our little black and white TV. I am so happy to learn that Gus was exonerated even though it was years after his death in Apollo 1. We knew Gus didn't screw the pooch anyway. Thank you for bringing these facts to light CDR Mooch, and please keep the great content coming. Also eagerly awaiting for 'Punk;s Force'.
Yes, excellent movie except for how Gus was portrayed. Not just the hatch incident but showing him on his hands and knees trying to gather up his flight souvenirs he just accidentally dropped. Pretty ridiculous.
Thanks for the history lesson. Gus’s legacy is a classic example of lies becoming the truth if told enough times.
Thank you, Ward for helping to set the record straight! Gus was the man, if anybody studies his participation in Gemini and Apollo, nobody had the knowledge and skills that he had. Probably why he was chosen for the first flights in each series.
Yes. Excellent pilot and astronaut but it’s worth mentioning that Alan Shepard was originally picked to be the commander of the first manned Gemini mission. That was until being replaced by Gus after he lost flight status because of his ear problem.
Thanks for making this video. I saw the movie when it was released and wondered about this event. Years later, and after working in industrial electrical design, I figured out that once armed, virtually any glitch could detonate the hatch, from wet switch contacts to static. The movie even made a point of how explosive bolts can’t “just blow” which is irrelevant. As far as I’m concerned, that movie is a hatchet job on Gus who never deserved that. Plus the proof is in the pudding. Had NASA thought Gus was unsuitable, he wouldn’t have been selected for both the first manned Gemini AND Apollo missions and many think that had he not been killed in Apollo 1, Gus would have been the first man to walk on the moon. Again, that you sir for making this video. I’m old enough to (barely) remember Gus’ Mercury flight and Gus was a hero of mine growing up.
I’d heard Gus had been vindicated, but not much more. As always, I got the straight story from you. This was the first time I’d ever heard of that huge locator beacon antenna. RIP, Gus, it’s great your name got cleared.
Gus was an engineering role model for me. He is part of why I became an engineer.
I worked for Oceaneering International out of Morgan City, Louisiana and we were contracted to do the salvage of Liberty Bell 7 on the M/V Ocean Project. I wasn't there but several of the crew who were told me about them finding coins inside the capsule that Gus took with him, like in the movie The Right Stuff, for souvenirs.
I got the book written about the recovering of Liberty 7. Very well done and it was pretty amazing that the first potential target they sent the ROV to check on turned out to be the sunk capsule. I don’t have the book handy so can’t recall if this was the first expedition attempt or were there more before finding it?
@@mako88sb First time out. The bottom of the Atlantic there is silty and flat, so imagine an open field in the midwest with a metal space capsule sitting out in the open. On sonar it stuck out like a sore thumb. Oceaneering is an underwater oilfield services company, I was in the commercial diving division, so this kind of work was right up our alley and this job was basically a layup, even the recovery.
@@zakobrien8764 Yes, excellent work still. Too bad they couldn’t find the hatch. I can’t remember how much effort was put into that? Would it have been buried by silt after 38 years?
@@mako88sb Yeah, the crew looked for the hatch, extensively, but to no avail. The hatch was basically flat in shape, and small, so it would have not only laid flat on bottom but would have taken an impossible the predict path to the ocean floor. Being flat, it would have fluttered like a leaf on its way down plus been much more subjected to the effects of current. Then the silt factor of 38 years like you mentioned and there you have it. The best way to find it would have been to put a diver or ROV on bottom and perform a ladder search with a magntometer (metal detector). But that would have meant more time, therefore money, and even then a slim chance of ever finding it.
As always, great video. It’s great to have someone sharing the true history of aviation and spaceflight. Way too many people spreading bad information, out there.
Go Navy! Beat Army!
Never heard this wrinkle before and it sounds absolutely right. Those bolts don't "just blow". Poor Gus, this issue eventually cost him his life.
I’ve seen static discharges throw infantry troops when they failed to discharge the static from our helo during sling load operations. The idea that he panicked just never made sense.
Gus was certainly no "chicken". A dedicated, brave professional and his awful accident took him and the others too soon, RIP. Thanks for setting the record straight Ward.
Mr. Grissom and his peers are a legend and pioneer in US space flight. Thank you for bringing this information forward.
Great video, Ward! Thanks.
I actually learned about Gus via the movie “The Right Stuff” Don’t understand why they don’t make cool movies like that anymore.
Agreed!
Levon Helm played Ridley the bomber pilot, which is the coolest thing ever.
Yep, that was one in a million
@TonerLow I'm a 64 year old drummer. I loved that character he played. The coolest!!
Gus has always been a hero of mine, along with Ed White and Roger Chafee; I for one took Gus at his word. Thanks for sharing the story, I don't remember hearing about that before. I got to see Liberty Bell 7 at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center some years ago, it was very cool to see.
2:54 *RIP Gus Grisson, Fred Ward*
Grateful to get more information on this incident. For what it's worth, I found it hard to believe a test pilot and astronaut with combat missions would panic.
I always thought it was absurd to think that ANY of those first astronauts would EVER panic.
Yes. Test pilots that panic don’t last long.
They were hotdog Korean War time aviators flying fighters right on the pinnacle of fighter jet technology and the front lines of aviation during the cold war. That these men would ever be called "cowards" is absurd, and speaks to the general societal wide illness that the Cold War created within the nation . . . .
Nice work Mooch 👍🏼
Thank you for setting the record straight.
Thanks for the deep dive into this story. Gus always seems like he was such a great guy.
I always figured he did not panic after all he had done.The right Stuff book did him a disservice.
The real villain in the popularized myth of Virgil Grissom “screwing the pooch” is “The Right Stuff” Author Tom Wolfe. Wolfe was a fine writer and stylist and is worth reading, but was known to stretch a truth if it made a better story.
I was born in 1950 and watched these space flights on TV., all three networks ABC, CBS and NBC aired them live. When my kids were growing up in the 1980s , I explained to them just how dangerous all this was. The rockets back then, launching satellites, would be blowing up on the launch pad. The TV networks would show the rocket explosions on the nightly news. Not to mention that test pilots at Edwards AFB were dying every other week, but that wasn't well publicized.
Fun fact: Grissom's first suggestion for the name of the Gemini 3 capsule was "Titanic". NASA didn't like his sense of humour. Another fun fact: If the Apollo 1 crew hadn't perished in the plugs-out test, Grissom would have been the astronaut selected to command the first lunar landing attempt (Apollo 11), so unlike what the movie portrayed, he was held in extremely high esteem amongst NASA astronauts (especially Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, who was his best friend. Deke Slayton was one of the original 7, but was taken off of flight status due to a heart murmur. He later flew on the Apollo-Soyuz test project mission in 1975, where an Apollo spacecraft linked up with and docked with a Soviet/Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The docking hardware developed from that project enabled the Space Shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir several years later, and it was also developed into the docking mechanism which today is installed on the International Space Station) and the NASA administration.
I'm so glad you mentioned the bit by Schirra (who was also a close friend of Grissom) making it a point to blow the hatch after the capsule had been hoisted aboard the recovery carrier, specifically to prove Grissom's innocense in the hatch-matter.
Thanks Ward!
Well said although if Shepard hadn’t developed his ear problem, he would have been the one Deke would line up for the first landing attempt. Of course, it goes without saying that ear issue probably saved Shepard’s life.
The movie was even more unfair to Grissom showing him shake souvenir trinkets out of his waterlogged spacesuit - suggesting he was even further from “The Right Stuff”.
Thanks, Ward. An important piece of history I lived through and thought I knew until now.
Gus was a steely-eyed missile man
Very good video. I'm old enough to remember the launch and all the discussion.
You provided the critical facts needed. Thanks so much.
Mooch, I get to wake up to the best UA-cam videos on the interweb 😂❤🎉. Thank you, my friend and mentor. Can't wait for Happy hour stories next week.
Excellent video Ward. Might want to do the same for the Apollo 15 crew regarding the stamp issue. It may not have been appropriate according to NASA but Alan Shepard did something similar with silver coins on Apollo 14. Of course, being the first American in space, he and his crew seemed to avoid the same scrutiny.
Being from Indiana I always felt that Gus got the shaft and then went on to give his life for the Space Program. A true Hero!
Hi Ward, This is one of your best videos. Grissom was adopted as an unofficial associate at my old firm. Whenever something fell apart for no apparent reason we would exclaim, “The hatch just blew.” All involved knew it was beyond anyone’s fault. We had an operation in Kokomo IN and we were disappointed when under Reagan the Grissom air base closed. Thanks again for defending his reputation.
Thanks, Ward. When I returned from school my Grandmother didn't mention the Apollo accident hoping it wouldn't trigger me (I guess). I was a big fan.
Thank you Ward, for reminding me of watching recovery lives on network television.
It was an exciting time the world's excitement over man's spaceflight was hypnotic I lament that the same excitement is not as widespread for the incredible successes of Space X, and our first real spaceship that lands and takes off like a 1950s sci-fi film. Will we be alive to watch humans first step on Mars hopefully won't be another 50 years.
Thanks very much for an insightful video. It makes absolutely zero sense whatsoever that Gus Grissom, a decorated fighter pilot and test pilot, both of which are notoriously dangerous, would panic while bobbing up and down in the ocean. It's far more likely that a government in the middle of the cold war would blame the incident on pilot error than admit there may be a problem with the technology or procedures.
Great information, Ward. I remember this incident as a kid and always liked Gus Grissom--somewhat of a boyhood hero to me during the early days of space flight. I am glad the additional information which has come to light years later exonerated him to the extent you explain in this episode. Great stuff as usual! Thank you.
Just as a note - When the H-34 was trying to hang on to the capsule, it was pulling War Emergency Power for some period over its time limit, and the capsule was jettisoned when the Transmission Chip Light (Which indicates that the gearbox that transfers power from the engine to the rotors is eating itself) illuminated. In the H-34, a Chip Light is a LAND RIGHT NOW Emergency. Even with everything going well, the H-34 was right on, or beyond, the ragged edge of its capabilities.
Gus certainly wasn't thought badly of by the NASA Spaceflight folks, or the Astronaut Corps - as you quickly point out at the end of the video, he was selected to be the Test Pilot for the next 2 generations of spacecraft.
I was friends with his granddaughter in high school. She was very intelligent. When I found out who her grandfather was, it made a lot of sense where she got her brains.
I've listened to the Apollo 1 dialogue. Aside from it being very tragic, I believe it was Grissom who stated something like, "How are we supposed to get to the moon if we can't communicate to a tower half a mile away?" showing that we was very aware of the Apollo 1 shortcomings.
He was very frustrated with North American Aviation’s attitude towards the astronauts input about the CM. Completely different from McDonnell Aviation who had built the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft.
@@mako88sb Got goosebumps reading that. Didn't know about the different companies. More to learn.
@@Dad_Lyon If you haven’t seen the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, I highly recommend it. The episode with the Apollo 1 incident is still a bit of a gut punch even though you know what’s going to happen. To be fair, North American had apparently warned the top NASA officials about the hazards of testing in a 100% oxygen environment at sea level pressure.
Something else brought up is how the hatch was designed in such a way that it made getting to the astronauts much more difficult. Primarily because of Gus’s input to not have a repeat incident with a hatch opening unexpectedly.
@@mako88sb Appreciate it!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's tragic that the movie left a stain on his name. Gus Grissom deserves to have his reputation fully restored. Thank you.
Nice mini-doco. Apollo First, never forget. I think had Gus not perished in that tragic fire on Apollo First, he may have been the first man on the moon. I have read this somewhere over the years.
I was thinking that too. I think Shep was in there too but then got grounded by Miniere's disease. Later recovered and flew on Apollo 14. I think it was all great in the end, Neil was such a standout his whole career leading up to it that he was the perfect first man.
@@jameshisself7375 👍🧑🚀
Watching the video of Armstrong piloting that hovercraft is what sealed it for me. I always wondered why he was the man that gets all the credit but I saw that video and realized that most of the propellant was there to lift their balls in the air. I’m sure it takes a lot of thrust to get Armstrong’s teaticles into zero gravity 😂
My uncle was stationed at Grissom afb for a long time. He flew on Looking Glass and always talked about these guys. I can only imagine being a kid and having them to look up to. We need more of that in the US.
Grissom deserves a really big monument. I don’t think naming a base after him is enough.
@@The_Red_Off_Road Agreed. That LM simulator contraption was a beast, he tried his best to hold it & punched out just in time too!. Great story, thanks for sharing.
@@irongron I recall hearing stories about how much better Neil was at flying the bedstead then any of the other Apollo group. He struggled with it but he was an ace compared to the rest of them. I'm sure that was the reason he got the nod for the first landing, and it turned out we needed a badass for that one.
I watched live on TV all of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and shuttle missions. The only two things I didn't know was the use of mercury fulminate in the hatch bolts or that Wally got his hand injured from the plunger.
Here's a bit of trivia for you, something that I saw while at the St. Louis Science Museum during a college field trip. The Mercury astronauts didn't have the "diapers" other astronauts would have much later (like on the shuttle). One peed in his suit because he was stuck on the launch pad for a long time, which shorted out the sensors inside his suit. Another thing I saw was what they had a metal tube up their backside connected to a bag strapped to their leg in case they had to take a dump.
I believe that your retelling of the Gus Grissom story is the best I’ve heard and unquestionably the most believable. Gus deserved better than he received and was one of America’s early space explorers and a very brave test pilot. He certainly deserved the credit overdue him!
It breaks my heart to know that among dozens of other things, the hatch design for Apollo 1 was a major culprit that led to the death of Gus, Ed and Roger.
Kind of ironic....
Thank you for clearing that up for me. All I had was what the "Right Stuff" entailed.
Thank you. Static stray current, the truth is something too dull at times for Hollywood.
Very good information presented in a professional manner. Thank you!
Thank you for this video. And giving the real facts of Gus Grissom's flight on Freedom Seven.
I love the Right Stuff - it's a great movie. That said it could have been more sympathetic toward Grissom and given he was to lead the Apollo program it was already evident that NASA had re-established trust in Grissom's capability.
The scene in The Right Stuff was total BS. I have driven through Mitchell, Indiana and seen the Gus Grissom monument and memorial there. Grissom was a consummate professional pilot and astronaut, by all accounts brilliant, calm under pressure, and very intelligent, the opposite of the portrayal in the film.
Having designed lightning suppression circuits for aircraft and done certification testing, ESD was he first thing I would have suspected especially with the antenna and cutter mechanism. even if your circuit is correct all it takes is a small manufacturing defect to produce an unexpected jump around a protection circuit. Modern Semiconductor ESD circuits are much better than what was available in the 1960s.
No way Grissom panicked. Just no way man.
Great story and research. One needs to visit the Grissom museum in his home town of Mitchell Indiana. I still believe he would've walked on the lunar surface if there was no Apollo tragedy.
Wow, thanks for the video. I really liked "The Right Stuff" (book and movie) but I always thought that Gus' blown hatch thing didn't give him the credit he deserved, and gave undeserved credit to naysayers. RIP Gus.
Always a treat all these years later to hear the information on this interesting incident.
Thank you...that puts the record straight. Rest in peace...Gus.
Thanks for the deep dive into the actual facts. Let the Force be with you this Saturday. Lay the marker down early and run out of harm’s way.
Ironically, Gus Grisson and the other Apollo 1 astronauts died because they could not "blow the hatch."
NASA had decided to design the hatch without explosive bolts and the ability to "blow the hatch".
Excellent research and documentary!
Great recap of Gus and explanation of what happened with the hatch. Schirra's proof always seemed sufficient to me. Also, I hate his portrayal in The Right Stuff. Gus was an extraordinarily competent steely-eyed missile man. His portrayal in First Man is fantastic. But for Apollo 1, everyone would know his name as the first person to walk on the moon. ❤
Yes, but don’t forget, if Shepard hadn’t been grounded for his ear issue, it would have been him that most likely would have got the first landing attempt.
Awesome documentary. Great job.
About as entertaining, is your dog sleeping on his back at the end of the video.