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Last updated on Tuesday, March 17, 2015
(MITCHELL) - Spring Mill State Park that’s located in NASA astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom’s hometown is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Gemini 3 space mission he co-piloted with educational programs.
The park will celebrate the Gemini 3's flight with daily guided tours March 21st through the 23rd of the park's Grissom Memorial.
Grissom and fellow astronaut John W. Young piloted the March 23rd, 1965, mission.
The pair orbited the Earth during their nearly 5-hour mission aboard a capsule nicknamed "Molly Brown," which is on display at the Grissom Memorial in Spring Mill State Park.
The Molly Brown is part of the Grissom Memorial at the park in Mitchell.
Grissom was 40 when he died along with two other astronauts in 1967 when a flash fire swept through their Apollo spacecraft during a pre-launch test in Florida.
Astronaut Gus Grissom's boyhood home, 715 W. Grissom Ave., in Mitchell will be open those three days for tours.
On March 21, Hoosier Hill Ham Club will be outside the Grissom Memorial contacting remote locations around the globe with amateur radios. On all three days, there will be guided tours of the memorial, with personal items of Grissom's on display, space food tastings and more.
At 6:30 p.m. on March 23 in the Spring Mill Inn's Lakeview Room, Ray Boomhower, author of "Gus Grissom - The Lost Astronaut" will speak and sign copies of his book.
Also on March 23, Spring Mill Inn's Millstone Dining Room will offer two specials: the Molly Brown -- grilled ham and turkey topped with Swiss cheese and rolled in a tortilla, battered then deep-fried -- and a grilled Reuben sandwich, in honor of the corned beef sandwich that went into space with Grissom and Young. Both specials come with a drink, chips, pickle spear and cookie and cost $6.99. The dining room will open at 5 p.m. for dinner.
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