Betty Grissom

Betty Lavonne Grissom was the plaintiff in a successful lawsuit against a NASA contractor which established a precedent for families of astronauts killed in service to receive compensation. Her husband Gus Grissom, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts, died in the first fatal accident in the history of the United States space program. Ms. Grissom has been portrayed in the books The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel and by the actors Veronica Cartwright and JoAnna Garcia in the film and television adaptations of those books.