- One of America's original seven Mercury astronauts selected in 1959; he was the second American to fly in outer space (21 July 1961), and the first man to fly in space twice.
- He gave his Mercury spacecraft the name Liberty Bell 7.
- He was killed on 27 January 1967, along with astronauts Roger B. Chaffee and Edward H. White II, when a fire swept through the capsule of the Apollo I spacecraft during a rocket test at Cape Kennedy, Florida.
- He nicknamed his Gemini capsule "Molly Brown", after the heroine in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). He had barely escaped when his Mercury capsule sank after re-entry. (See The Right Stuff (1983).)
- Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper).
- He is memorialized on another planet. Grissom Hill is 7.5 km southwest of Columbia Memorial Station on Mars among the Apollo 1 hills.
- Known an the test astronaut since he always seemed to fly the early missions. On the first Gemini (3) mission he flew with rookie John Young for almost five hours in March 1965.
- Partner in the GCR Corporation racing team that competed in the USAC Series in 1966 and 1967. The "G" represented Grissom, the "C" represented Gordon Cooper and the "R" represented Jim Rathmann.
- Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper).
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