Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom Memorial Museum
Mitchell, Indiana
Anyone who's read Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff or seen the 1983 movie knows the story of Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, America's hard luck astronaut hero. He was always in the wrong place at the wrong time: as one of the original Mercury 7, his mission was after Alan "First American in Space" Shepard Jr. but before John "First American in Orbit" Glenn; Grissom was the only astronaut whose capsule sank; he was the man who commanded the forgettable first Gemini mission, and who was going to command the first Apollo mission -- until a horrible fire broke out in the capsule during prelaunch tests in 1967, killing him and his crew.
Gus Grissom's home town of Mitchell, Indiana, honors its most famous son in ways suited to a guy who seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
In Spring Mill State Park stands the Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom Memorial Museum. The museum was dedicated in July 1971, ten years after Gus's first flight, and four years after his death.
Almost everything here is from the Molly Brown, Grissom's Gemini mission capsule. This is understandable, as the Liberty Bell, his Mercury capsule, was at the bottom of the Atlantic until 1999 (now exhibited at the Kansas Cosmosphere, Hutchinson, Kansas). The Molly Brown itself is on display, behind a plexiglass shield. Gus's Mercury spacesuit -- a big draw -- was out to Washington DC for a cleaning when we visited, but we were still able to ponder the helmet worn by Gus during his Mercury flight.
The displays make no mention of the moment dramatized in The Right Stuff, when Gus may have panicked, blowing the hatch on his Mercury capsule, and sinking it. It is, however, addressed briefly in a video showing in the mini-theater. "The mishap," says the narrator, "taught NASA much regarding recovery techniques." After the capsule was finally fished out of the Pacific, the narrator says, "most experts agree that Gus Grissom did not blow the hatch" -- but of course that was much too late for Gus to see his version of the incident confirmed.
Of all the early astronauts, Grissom was known for his sense of humor. He wryly named his Gemini capsule "Molly Brown" -- after a passenger who didn't sink when the Titanic went down. The video narrator notes "NASA was not amused" and from then on forbade mission commanders from naming their capsules.
Other exhibit highlights include Gus's high school diploma, a "Mercury Way" street sign that he stole, a cowboy hat given to him by President Johnson, his posthumous Medal of Honor and coffin flag, and a corned beef sandwich, preserved in a block of lucite, commemorating the one that Gemini co-pilot John Young snuck aboard the Molly Brown and shared with Gus in space.