Gus Grissom’s personally-used Gemini G-4C training glove, presumably affiliated with his role as the backup Command Pilot for the Gemini 6 mission. Consisting of a neoprene liner cover and a few layers of nonporous cloth, the glove is specialized for Grissom, and bears an identification label sewn into the back wrist section: “Glove, Space Suit, NASA Designation GG-4C-18, David Clark Co. Inc., P/N A-1715 Ser No. 418, Size Grissom Date July 1965.” The glove attaches to the suit via an anodized aluminum wrist ring, features exterior adjustable restraints, and is equipped with small flashlights on the index and middle fingers, which are connected to a battery pack. Housed in a glass display case. In very good condition, with overall toning and considerable wear to fingers; interior lining is quite fragile. From the personal collection of Charlie Dry, a former Apollo test astronaut and research engineer and senior scientific analyst at NASA, who includes a brief letter of provenance: “The training glove was given to me by Astronaut Gus Grissom during a training mission…We were leaving the NASA-JSC suit room in the Crew Systems building, and I said, ‘Gus, I have no souvenir.’ Gus said, ‘Take this glove.’ Wow!“
Grissom had worn a G-3C suit during his Gemini 3 mission on March 23, 1965, which consisted of six layers of nylon (the innermost containing a rubberized nylon 'bladder') and Nomex, with a link net retaining layer and an outer layer of white Nomex fabric. It consisted of five major assemblies: the main torso, a full-pressure helmet, combat-style boots, a neck seal, and gloves detachable by improved locking rings that allowed easy rotation of the wrists. As a step-up from those found on the G-2C training suit, the gloves of the G-3C featured fingertip glove lighting, a battery, a palm retention bar, and were designed specifically to increase mobility and abrasion resistance. The G-4C suit was essentially identical, but with additional layers of mylar insulation for temperature control. The G-4C suit also served as the basis for the design of the A-1C suits to be worn on Apollo 1. After the tragic death of Grissom and his Apollo 1 crewmates in the fire on the pad, the Block I Apollo missions were canceled and the A-1C never flew. A museum-quality piece of training equipment personally-worn by one of NASA's most storied and tragic figures.
