Update on New Gus Grissom Bio Coming in June 2016

After more than six years of researching, interviewing, drafting and rewriting, I am nearing completion of my biography of astronaut Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom. I and my publisher, Purdue University Press, remain on track for a June 2016 release.

The good folks in West Lafayette have also set up a Calculated Risk web page describing our Grissom project. It also includes the cover image for the hard back edition (also shown at right) and–most important of all–a button to pre-order the hard cover or e-book editions of Calculated Risk.

We invite you to take a look.

Among the many things I have discovered about Gus Grissom nearly 50 years after he perished is the wellspring of affection that remains for this pioneering astronaut and what he represented. Grissom was hands-on. He did not talk about doing things in space; he worked, prepared, tested, suited up and flew. Those who made it to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s stand on the shoulders of pioneers like Gus Grissom.

The release of Calculated Risk is timed to coincided with next year’s Indiana bicentennial celebration and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire, the January 1967 tragedy that claimed the lives of Grissom and his crew.

We fervently hope to do justice to the extraordinary life, career and sacrifice of Gus Grissom.

Thanks to all who have assisted and encouraged me in this once-in-a-lifetime project.