NASA’s Gemini 3, carrying Virgil Grissom and John Young, was launched on March 23, 1965.
It was the first manned Gemini flight, the seventh American flight into space, and the 17th manned spaceflight from Earth of all time.
The test flight gave the astronauts a chance to try out maneuvers necessary to get to and from the Moon.
Their flight lasted a short, but successful, 5 hours.
A contraband corned beef sandwich was snuck on board by Young, and Grissom found this to be highly amusing. The astronauts were reprimanded when they returned to Earth, as the crumbs could have had catastrophic effects on the spacecraft’s electronics.
Virgil Grissom was the first person ever to fly into space twice: July 21, 1962 (Mercury), and March 23, 1965 (Gemini 3).
Gemini 3 is on display at the Grissom Memorial in Spring Mill State Park, near Grissom’s hometown of Mitchell, Indiana.
