What did Grissom do before becoming an astronaut?  Well, he flew a bunch.  He flew 100 combat missions in the Korean War for the U.S. Air Force.  When he came back to the United States he taught how to fly jets.  In 1956 he entered the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base in California.  He flew 4,600 hours total.  Let’s see; divide by… carry the one… that is almost 192 days of straight flying!

In 1959 NASA chose Grissom as one of their Mercury pilots.  He also took part in Gemini and Apollo missions.  Grissom died in a fire on January 27, 1967 during a launch pad test for Apollo.  Deke Slayton says that Grissom would have been the first man to walk on the moon had he lived.

Here is a picture of the jet that Grissom flew, the USAF F-86.