July 21.2C 1961 .28Friday.29 July 1961

gus grissom



mercury program: gus grissom, piloting mercury-redstone 4 capsule liberty bell 7, became second american astronaut go space. grissom lifted off @ 7:20 am, reached altitude of 118 miles without attaining orbit, descended in capsule parachute, splashdown @ 7:36. hatch opened prematurely, , grissom escaped , swam safety capsule filled water. although helicopter managed secure capsule , attempted lift it, weight of water added 4,000 pounds load. $5,000,000 spacecraft cut loose , sank bottom of ocean, , not found until may 1999. grissom drowned when water filled suit, , 10-foot long shark observed in water after rescue. grissom die in 1967, unable escape capsule of apollo 1 when caught fire. unidentified nasa official commented, ve got 1 gus, ve got plenty of space capsules.
dominica adopted new coat of arms, consisting of shield 2 guardian sisserou parrots bracing shield atop of raging lion.
alaska airlines flight 779, douglas dc-6 delivering 26,000 pounds of cargo japan, crashed 300 feet short of runway came in landing @ shemya air force base in alaska, killing crew of six. investigation found power cable runway approach lights, , many of pairs of threshold lights , runway lights, had been cut off 2 days before accident allow construction vehicles pass; , nobody had notified crew of flight 779.
born:

sergiy bychkov, ukrainian politician, in dnipropetrovsk
amar singh chamkila, punjabi musician, in dugri (died 1988)
morris iemma, australian politician, in sydney


died: sérvulo gutiérrez, 47, peruvian artist




^ grissom saved, capsule lost , pittsburgh post-gazette, july 22, 1961, p1; flight , great float , virgil grissom, life magazine, july 28, 1961, p27
^ salvage team finds mercury capsule , milwaukee journal-sentinel, may 3, 1999, p7a; gus grissom s space capsule recovered , toledo blade, july 21, 1999, p14
^ francis french, et al., silent sea: trailblazers of space era, 1961-1965 (university of nebraska press, 2009) pp79-90
^ ve got 1 gus plenty of capsules , ottawa citizen, july 21, 1961, p1
^ aviation-safety-network