Gemini was completed at a blistering pace. It had accomplished
many objectives that would be necessary for a trip to the Moon.
Project Apollo would be the final leg of the race that would
actually reach for the Moon. It was now 1967 and the decade was
running out. President Kennedy's goal of reaching the Moon
before the end of the decade was in doubt. The contractors
working on the Apollo spacecraft, the workers at NASA, and the
astronauts themselves put in many long hours. It was a work
schedule rushing head-on into burnout and it began to take its
The first manned Apollo mission was designated AS-204. This
mission was supposed to be the shakedown voyage for the new
Apollo command and service modules in Earth orbit. Virgil (Gus)
Ivan Grissom was designated as Commander of AS-204. Grissom was
a veteran of two previous spaceflights. He flew both the Mercury
and Gemini spacecraft. His Gemini mission was also the shakedown
voyage for the Gemini spacecraft. Joining Grissom on AS-204, as
Senior Pilot, would be vet