Grissom High School in Huntsville, Alabama was named in honor of
astronaut Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom. A
part of the U.S. manned space program since it began in 1959, Grissom
was a decorated pilot who fought in the Korean War. His second space
flight on Gemini III earned him the distinction of being the first man
to fly in space twice. Slated to be one of the first men to the moon,
his future was tragically cut short when he and his fellow astronauts
Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee, were killed, during a simulation
of the scheduled Feb. 21, 1967, launching of Apollo 1.