Grissom letter showing jealousy of Glenn for sale
By RIK STEVENS, Associated Press
Nov 21, 2013 1:05 AM CST
FILE- In this photo taken July 21, 1961, Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom is seen next to the space capsule Liberty Bell 7, for his departure from Cape Caneveral, Fla. RR Auction of Amherst, N.H. is auctioning off a letter Grissom wrote to his mother, how he and five of his fellow Mercury 7 astronauts resented...   (Associated Press)

A letter written by Gus Grissom confides that he and the other Mercury 7 astronauts were angry when John Glenn was picked to be the first American to orbit the Earth.

The letter is being sold in an online auction by RR Auction of Amherst, N.H.

When he wrote to his mother on Oct. 7, 1961, Virgil "Gus" Grissom was still stinging from his Liberty Bell 7 flight in July of that year. The flight had ended with a blown hatch, a sunken space capsule and suspicions that the former Air Force fighter pilot had panicked.

He writes to Cecile Grissom that he's been "feeling pretty low" and says of his fellow astronauts "all of us are mad" at Glenn's selection.

The letter came from Grissom's brother, Lowell.

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