Short answers, pulled from the story.
Gus Grissom was an American astronaut, born on the 3rd of April 1926 in Mitchell, Indiana, and one of the original seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA. He was the second American to fly in space, in 1961, and the first person to fly in space twice. He died on the 27th of January 1967 in the Apollo 1 fire on Launch Pad 34 at Cape Kennedy, Florida.
After Liberty Bell 7 splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on the 21st of July 1961, the spacecraft's emergency explosive hatch bolts fired unexpectedly, flooding the capsule. A recovery helicopter attempted to retrieve it, but the waterlogged craft became too heavy and had to be cut loose. Liberty Bell 7 sank and was not recovered until 1999; even then, no conclusive explanation for the hatch's premature firing was found.
Grissom died on the 27th of January 1967 during a pre-launch test for Apollo 1 on Launch Pad 34 at Cape Kennedy, Florida. A fire broke out inside the Command Module, fueled by a pressurized 100 percent oxygen atmosphere, flammable materials, and an inward-opening hatch that could not be opened under full internal pressure. Grissom and crewmates Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee were asphyxiated. The ignition source was damaged wiring.
Grissom named Gemini 3 Molly Brown as a joke reference to the sinking of his Mercury capsule Liberty Bell 7, borrowing the name from the Broadway show The Unsinkable Molly Brown. NASA publicity officials objected and asked for a different name. When Grissom and pilot John W. Young suggested Titanic as an alternative, NASA agreed to allow Molly Brown but avoided using it in official communications.
Grissom served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, inducted on the 8th of August 1944 at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. During the Korean War, he flew one hundred combat missions as an F-86 Sabre pilot with the 334th Fighter Squadron at Kimpo Air Base and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster. He later became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base before joining NASA.
Grissom's family received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978 from President Carter. His name appears on the plaque left on the Moon with the Fallen Astronaut statue in 1971. An asteroid designated 2161 Grissom was officially named in 1981, and a crater on the far side of the Moon was given his name by the International Astronomical Union in 1970. Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Peru, Indiana, was renamed Grissom Air Force Base on the 12th of May 1968.