Grissom's U.S. Space Capsule Pulled From Ocean Floor
July 22, 1999 - 0:0
MIAMI On the 30th anniversary of the first moon landing, a marine salvage team plucked a space-age relic from the ocean floor on Tuesday -- the Mercury capsule that carried U.S. astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom into space. Nearly 38 years after it was lost, the telephone booth-sized Liberty Bell 7 was hauled to the surface through more than three miles (4.8 km) of water from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. "It was just nerve-racking for me.
I was having kittens," expedition leader Curt Newport said in a ship-to-shore conference call after a cable pulled the spacecraft to the surface. "It was almost like seeing this thing punch through the surface like through some sort of time portal." Newport said there was little hope of answering the mystery surrounding the capsule's sinking. The capsule carried Grissom on a brief, suborbital flight on July 21, 1961, and sank moments after splashdown due to the detonation of explosive bolts designed to open the hatch quickly in an emergency.
Grissom, the second American in space, nearly drowned as the craft filled with water before navy divers could secure it for recovery. The incident was prominently featured in Tom Wolfe's 1983 book "The Right Stuff," which suggested Grissom panicked in the bobbing craft and exploded the emergency bolts himself. Grissom died in 1967 in a launch pad fire while testing systems aboard the Apollo 1 spacecraft.
Newport and his expedition crew, sponsored by U.S. Cable Television's Discovery Channel, in May found the missing capsule sitting upright on the seabed about 90 miles (144 km) northeast of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. But they failed to recover it when a remotely operated submersible was lost in bad weather. On their second recovery mission, the crew spent days preparing the capsule for its journey to the surface, attaching clamps and a four-mile-long (6.4-km) cable.
It took hours to hoist the water-filled spacecraft, which may have weighed two tons or more, through 16,040 feet (4,890 meters) of sea to the surface. The craft was taken aboard the recovery vessel ocean project about 2:15 a.m. EDT (0615 GMT). "A couple times I thought we lost it," Newport said. The space relic emerged from its tomb 38 years less a day after it sank and 30 years to the day after Apollo 11 explorers Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin landed on the moon.
The muddy capsule had a "funny odor" and instruments dangled from panels, but its titanium shell was sound and the seats and straps that held Grissom were in good shape, Newport said. "Overall, considering how long it was down there, it was in remarkable condition," he said. But there was little hope that it would answer the mystery of Grissom's mission -- why did the hatch blow off? "I don't think there's any way to answer that question, ever," Newport said.
The hatch, which might have provided clues, was not found. A "pilot observer camera" trained on Grissom through the flight was missing. Although a reel of film from the camera was found, it was not expected to yield evidence, Newport said. "Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any home movies of Grissom on his flight," he said. A cursory search of the capsule turned up seven coins -- "mercury dimes" -- that Grissom carried into space as souvenirs, Newport said.
When the capsule was hoisted on board, bomb experts found an explosive device that went down with it. The bomb was meant to detonate if the capsule sank, making a sound that would help crews on the surface locate the spaceship. It never went off. The bomb, about the size of a soda can, was found in muck on the floor of the capsule and was heaved overboard, Newport said.
The capsule was hoisted into a container filled with seawater to preserve it for the trip to shore. Ocean project was due to arrive on Wednesday at Port Canaveral, Florida. Scientists have said there was little scientific value in the recovery of Liberty Bell 7, which was slated to be restored and put on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas. (Reuter)
I was having kittens," expedition leader Curt Newport said in a ship-to-shore conference call after a cable pulled the spacecraft to the surface. "It was almost like seeing this thing punch through the surface like through some sort of time portal." Newport said there was little hope of answering the mystery surrounding the capsule's sinking. The capsule carried Grissom on a brief, suborbital flight on July 21, 1961, and sank moments after splashdown due to the detonation of explosive bolts designed to open the hatch quickly in an emergency.
Grissom, the second American in space, nearly drowned as the craft filled with water before navy divers could secure it for recovery. The incident was prominently featured in Tom Wolfe's 1983 book "The Right Stuff," which suggested Grissom panicked in the bobbing craft and exploded the emergency bolts himself. Grissom died in 1967 in a launch pad fire while testing systems aboard the Apollo 1 spacecraft.
Newport and his expedition crew, sponsored by U.S. Cable Television's Discovery Channel, in May found the missing capsule sitting upright on the seabed about 90 miles (144 km) northeast of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. But they failed to recover it when a remotely operated submersible was lost in bad weather. On their second recovery mission, the crew spent days preparing the capsule for its journey to the surface, attaching clamps and a four-mile-long (6.4-km) cable.
It took hours to hoist the water-filled spacecraft, which may have weighed two tons or more, through 16,040 feet (4,890 meters) of sea to the surface. The craft was taken aboard the recovery vessel ocean project about 2:15 a.m. EDT (0615 GMT). "A couple times I thought we lost it," Newport said. The space relic emerged from its tomb 38 years less a day after it sank and 30 years to the day after Apollo 11 explorers Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin landed on the moon.
The muddy capsule had a "funny odor" and instruments dangled from panels, but its titanium shell was sound and the seats and straps that held Grissom were in good shape, Newport said. "Overall, considering how long it was down there, it was in remarkable condition," he said. But there was little hope that it would answer the mystery of Grissom's mission -- why did the hatch blow off? "I don't think there's any way to answer that question, ever," Newport said.
The hatch, which might have provided clues, was not found. A "pilot observer camera" trained on Grissom through the flight was missing. Although a reel of film from the camera was found, it was not expected to yield evidence, Newport said. "Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any home movies of Grissom on his flight," he said. A cursory search of the capsule turned up seven coins -- "mercury dimes" -- that Grissom carried into space as souvenirs, Newport said.
When the capsule was hoisted on board, bomb experts found an explosive device that went down with it. The bomb was meant to detonate if the capsule sank, making a sound that would help crews on the surface locate the spaceship. It never went off. The bomb, about the size of a soda can, was found in muck on the floor of the capsule and was heaved overboard, Newport said.
The capsule was hoisted into a container filled with seawater to preserve it for the trip to shore. Ocean project was due to arrive on Wednesday at Port Canaveral, Florida. Scientists have said there was little scientific value in the recovery of Liberty Bell 7, which was slated to be restored and put on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas. (Reuter)