--- title: Countdown Podcast: Grissom's Splashdown description: The routine end of a brief flight turned out not to be so routine after all. canonical: https://time.com/4895174/countdown-podcast-grissom-splashdown/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-10T15:55:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:56:28.472Z article:section: Science og:title: Gus Grissom's Near-Deadly Splashdown og:description: The routine end of a brief flight turned out not to be so routine after all og:url: https://time.com/4895174/countdown-podcast-grissom-splashdown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bdb9c82bb9d7308/6988d9420b72e3a1ff6eefe8/170810_gus-grissom-splashdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 170810_Gus Grissom splashdown og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gus Grissom's Near-Deadly Splashdown twitter:description: The routine end of a brief flight turned out not to be so routine after all twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bdb9c82bb9d7308/6988d9420b72e3a1ff6eefe8/170810_gus-grissom-splashdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Countdown' Podcast Episode Four: Gus Grissom's Near-Deadly Splashdown > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Aug 10, 2017 3:55 PM UTC  July 21, 1961, Worldwide Mercury Astronaut Virgil 'Gus' Grissom Is Pulled From The Ocean. His Spce Capsule 'Liberty Bell 7' Sank After He Opened The Side Hatch. July 21, 1961, Worldwide Mercury Astronaut Virgil 'Gus' Grissom Is Pulled From The Ocean. His Spce Capsule 'Liberty Bell 7' Sank After He Opened The Side Hatch. NASA/Getty Images  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Aug 10, 2017 3:55 PM UTC There was no happier place for America’s first astronauts than the ocean. In those pre-shuttle days, returning crews did not coast to a stop on an ordinary runway like a business traveler coming home after a commuter hop. Rather, any trip to space ended with an ocean splashdown. Touching the water meant that your journey was done, your mission was in the books, and all that remained was a celebratory reception on the deck of a Naval carrier, a happy reunion with your family in Houston and, if you were so inclined, a return to the flight rotation so you could begin to train for your next trip aloft. But for Gus Grissom, who became the second American in space on July 21, 1961, the ocean offered no such safe embrace. Like Alan Shepard, the astronaut who had been the nation’s first star traveler less than three months earlier, Grissom was scheduled to make only a the briefest journey—a trip known as a suborbital flight. He’d leave the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, blast 120 miles into space, experience a few minutes of blackness and zero-g, then arc back over and drop into the Atlantic Ocean 300 miles off the coast of Florida. It was 17 minutes door to door—or pad to water. And that’s exactly the flight Grissom flew. But the water, as it turned out, had nasty plans for him. Week four of the podcast _Countdown_ tells the tale of Gus Grissom’s historic mission, its disastrous ending, and how one of America’s pioneer astronauts managed to survive to fly another day. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4895174/countdown-podcast-grissom-splashdown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4895174/countdown-podcast-grissom-splashdown/"},"headline":"'Countdown' Podcast Episode Four: Gus Grissom's Near-Deadly Splashdown","datePublished":"2017-08-10T15:55:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:56:28.472Z","description":"The routine end of a brief flight turned out not to be so routine after all","url":"https://time.com/4895174/countdown-podcast-grissom-splashdown/","keywords":["Podcast","onetime","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bdb9c82bb9d7308/6988d9420b72e3a1ff6eefe8/170810_gus-grissom-splashdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bdb9c82bb9d7308/6988d9420b72e3a1ff6eefe8/170810_gus-grissom-splashdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170810_Gus Grissom splashdown","caption":"July 21, 1961, Worldwide Mercury Astronaut Virgil 'Gus' Grissom Is Pulled From The Ocean. 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