Recovery of Gemini 3 crew, 1965. Sea recovery of astronauts Virgil 'Gus' Grissom and John Young, crew of the Gemini 3 mission, after splashdown in the Atlantic on 23 March 1965. Gemini 3 had performed a 3-orbit demonstration flight and carried the first computer into space, allowing in-flight orbital changes to be calculated. It was thus the first manned craft to intentionally change its orbit. John Young was the seventh American into space, performing a career total of six space flights. Grissom was the second US astronaut, and was tragically killed in a launchpad fire on 27 January 1967 during part of the Apollo programme.