Grissom letter showing jealousy of Glenn

In October 1961, Gus Grissom glumly confided to his mother in a letter that is now up for auction that he and his fellow Mercury 7 astronauts resented John Glenn after he was picked to be the first American to orbit the Earth.

Within the famously competitive group, Glenn had emerged as the face of the space program, while Grissom was reticent in front of the press. When he wrote to his mother, Grissom was still stinging from his Liberty Bell 7 flight on July 21, 1961, that ended with a blown hatch, a sunken space capsule and accusations that the former Air Force fighter pilot had panicked. (AP)