Air Force Captain Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom was at the top of his game, working in pilot paradise as an all-weather test flyer at Wright Air Development Center in Ohio when he was summoned to Washington, D.C., via top-secret teletype message, instructed to report in civilian attire, and to discuss the order with no one. Reporting as directed, he was ushered first to a room full of test pilots and then into a separate room to field "all kinds of odd-ball questions." The new National Aeronautics and Space Administration was looking for volunteer test pilots to join something called Project Mercury, America's response to Sputnik. The aim was to put men in space, Grissom was conflicted. He had one of the best jobs in the Air Force and worked with engineers who were just as competent and committed to their roles as he was to his. But Grissom also sensed the glory days of test piloting were over. "It wasn't really flight-test at all," he recalled later. "It was mostly testing new gadgets." The age of electronic warfare had begun. Grissom was ready for a different kind of challenge.
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机译：空军队长Virgil I.“Gus”Grissom在他的比赛之上，在俄亥俄州的Wright Air Developent Center举办飞行员天堂，当时他通过顶级秘密的Teletype召唤消息，指示在民用服装中报告，并与没有人讨论订单。按照指示报告，他先迎来了一个充满了测试飞行员的房间，然后进入一个单独的房间“各种奇数球问题”。新的美国国家航空航天局正在寻找志愿者测试飞行员加入叫做项目汞的东西，美国对Sputnik的反应。目的是将男性放在太空中，格里斯莫姆被冲突。他拥有空军中最好的工作，并与与他所担任的角色一样，与工程师合作，致力于他们的角色。但格蕾斯也感觉到了试验的荣耀日结束了。 “这根本不是真正的飞行试验，”他稍后再议。 “它大多测试了新的小工具。”电子战的年龄已开始。格里斯摩已经为不同的挑战做好准备。
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