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Mercury Capsule recovered after 38 years
38 years after it's sinking the Mercury capsule that Gus Grissom flew into space. Officially called the Liberty Bell 7, it was recovered from a depth of 15,000 feet (about 3 miles). They were unable to recover the hatch, meaning that the mystery of whether the hatch bolts blew prematurely, or Grissom activated them too early while remain a mystery. It's going to be cleaned and put on exhibiton-the Discovery Channel footed the bill. Hats off to them.
see the government will not allow an attempt to recover the hatch because that would give more evidence to the happenings of Alien abduction. a little known fact is that the the Mercury capsule was actually schedules for a planned interception by an ancient egyptian craft at the apex of its flight. at that point the alien-egyptians could not figure out how to openthe hatch so a device was used to extract Grissom from the capsule andin the process the hatch was irrevocably damaged. Grissom, greatly annoyed with the crippling of his craft, socked one alien in his ugly-ass dog face
and kicked another in the 'nads. this totally pissed off the egyptian-aliens so they
performed numerous tests including miscellaneous probes of Grissom's orifices. they then put a message scarab in one of those *ahem* more sensitive orifices with orders that the was to *again ahem* eject it out for his superiors inorder to demonstrate their opinion of the US so called space program. he was drugged with a hallucinogenic sedative and inserted back in his capsule. Since the hatch was unable to be reattached, the aliens covered the opening with a material they use that is analgous to our aluminum foil but much stronger and sealed it with a substance that while extremely resistant to heat and pressure differences, could not withstand regular salt water and would break down instantly upon exposure. so when the capsule hit the water the substance started to dissolve and water came in and Grissom, still under the influence was startled awake and with the scarab inside and the hallucinations still happening he freaked out and smashed out the replacement "hatch" thus flooding the capsule.
"if most Star Wars fans had their way, Part II would be mostly Darth Maul and Boba Fett mowing down Ewoks and Gungans"
This one, he named the "Molly Brown".
After that, NASA didn't let them name ships until Apollo.
IIRC, burning would've reduced the pressure inside the capsule as it used up the oxygen. Remember that old high school chemistry trick where you get an egg to be sucked into a narrow-mouthed vase by dropping something burning inside the vase?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I think it was more the burning aluminum, plastics, etc which created dense smoke..
Still, a particularly nasty way to go, and a shameful statement on the hubris in the space program at the time.. Doing the plugs-out test while the spacecraft was superpressurized (basically doing both tests at the same time) was reckless, but nobody really cared until people died. I think the term is 'Go Fever'..
You did mean Tucson, right? ;-)
In other news, astrophysicists have announced that they now know what all that dark matter is: it's stupidity.
Then, sturdy Kevlar cord was used to reel in the capsule, which weighed about 3,000 pounds with the water inside.
Your little sister could lift 2000 pounds of water, in water. Everyone whos ever been cooling a barrel of beer in a lake will know what Im talking about.
Well, this is how the press tells us facts.
-martin
Actually, that bit about the spacesuit inflating on Leonov has been known for a long while. I saw an interview with him once where he talked about the whole situation in depth.
Part of the problem, you see, was that they were using an inflatable airlock...
Phil Fraering "Humans. Go Fig." - Rita
(currently testing something about signatures here)
I call dibs on the Yamato.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Excellent series, I've got it on DVD..
btw: A huge part of the problem was also that the hatch opened _inwards_, so the pressure from the burning oxygen pressed the hatch shut and prevented anyone from opening it from the outside. Didn't the hatch eventually blow off its hinges because of the pressure?
Actually, I think the current thinking is that static electricity from the helecopter overhead was what set the charges off. (The other one I heard was that the "pull to blow hatch" line was caught on something, and accidentally pulled.)
LB7 was in the water for quite a bit before the hatch blew, so it wasn't from the direct impact.
The article didn't go into the background about the exploding hatch. What happened? Even if he did blow the hatch, why is this seen as some horribly shameful thing? The guy made it into space and came back alive; that seems like the important thing.
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
Hmm if the American astronauts have trouble fitting through a hatch that is 10 square feet in area I think they need to change their diet a bit.
A bit less of the fatty foods and a little more exercise. I guess the Russians got into space up a little earlier as their rockets would need a lower power rocket to reach orbit.
nitpicking left out
Couldn't find anything in the article to post about eh? Haven't read enough Huck Finn or E.E. Cummings?
Personally I think that this was just NASA doing some really early airbag testing. I mean, think about it, things that explode in your face and nearly kill you on impact? Heck, maybe this is where they got the idea :)
The answer to the enduring mystery of why the hatch blew may have been in the inside-the-capsule camera that was running when Liberty Bell 7 splashed down. But the camera was found broken open and the film was ruined.
That is awfully convenient...I wonder what would have caused the camera to break like that...
"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -- Thomas Jefferson
see subject.
------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
Posted by Wolfgang A. Mozart:
An awesome discovery in any time, but especially in light of the 30th anniversary of the first lunar landing.
This is very cool and I'll go see it if it comes near, but I kind of feel sorry for his widow. I'm sure she'd just like to see that thing stay on the bottom of the Atlantic.
Admit nothing, deny everything and make counter-accusations.
They're not going to try and figure out if the hatch blew or not. At least some people still have class.
I guess Discovery Channel is going to take this thing on tour or something. I cant wait to see it.
-Rich
I'm more than a little confused as to why they refuse to go back and look for the hatch. The majority of the interest in this seems to be concerning the hatch, and now they aren't even going to look for it. Oh well, it's still a great recovery.
Because of problems recovering Liberty Bell 7 -- two days were wasted because of bad navigational data and the recovery vessel kept breaking -- Newport had no time to search for the hatch.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
The article was a bit misleading. The capsule won't be going on tour immediately. It's currently in a protective cannister, still submerged in water.
The capsule is being delivered to the Cosmosphere in Hutchision, KS for cleanup and restoration, which may take up to a year. The restoration process, I've heard, will be on full display in a glassed workroom.
After the restoration, it will be taken on tour and then it will be permanently housed at the Cosmosphere. If you are ever going through central Kansas, the Cosmophere is worth checking out. I'm only about an hour away, so I guess I'll go check it out when I can..
More information is here.
jf
Can anyone provide more details on the purpose of the explosive device they through overboard after the recovery was? I find it difficult to believe they wanted to use this to locate the capsule. That would seem like it would put the astronaut's life in considerable jeopardy? Why not use some kind of flare?
I was trying to think of explanations for it and the only thing I could come up with was that they wanted the capsule destroyed in case the Soviet's attempted to recover it? But I don't really know how much real 'secret' technology was on the thing at the time. Was their anything to protect? Not a lot of electronics. Maybe the metal alloys of the pod, but I don't think these would be too secret?
Anyway, if anyone knows the answer, I'm curious to hear it.
Finding that hatch would be damn near impossible. After all, the Mercury hatch was barely large enough for a man to fit through. Lets say 10 square feet...
The time required to conduct the search, the cost of the equipment involved, the specialists on the task have to get paid.. Or at least must eat.
While knowing the whole thruth may (arguably in this case) be the best way to go, I think this one will die based on economics. (Most things die this way anyway)
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Mercury Capsule World Tour coming soon. The last one was 38 years ago. :)
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
I read somewhere that they already found the capsule, they were just looking for a way to bring it to the surface. And why don't they look for the hatch? There are alot of unanswered questions that lie with it.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
I grew up about an hour from where the Capsule will end up (the Kansas Cosmosphere). Having grown up with *the* geek museum, the Smithsonian Air and Space was a letdown. If you get ANY chance, go to Hutchinson. Smallish town (40k), but *the* center for space artifacts. Besides the museum, a major industry in town is space restoration (capsules, suits, etc), and recreations (who built the sets for Apollo 13? Not NASA... the Cosmosphere).
Their page is marginal, but it can help you find the place. http://www.cosmo.org You'll understand when you walk in the main door and notice a complete SR-71 Blackbird hanging over you.
Right, the Earth to the Moon episode about Apollo 1 was just on HBO the other night. The total time from first notice of fire to the capsule bursting (I assume the hatch, they didn't say) was 15 seconds.
There was a scene where Borman was talking to an engineer about how to open the hatch, it took 20 seconds to perform the steps. They mentioned a re-design involving some kind of explosive releasing mechanism.
Scary shit. Good thing there were brave, dedicated professionals that were willing to put their lives on the line in the name of science and 'patriotism'. We owe a great debt to these men, this series really brings home the courage and dedication these astronauts brought to bear on this amazing endeavor.
If I remember right - it was the actual hull of the capsule that breached from the internal pressure.
Imagine that! A hull designed to withstand spaceflight, re-entry and spashdown, busted from the internal pressure of a fire. With three human beings inside. Jeezus!
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Not to be too nit picky, but it was the Discovery Channel that footed the bill for the recovery, so they are the ones that deserve the 3 cheers...
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
kmj
The only reason I keep my ms-dos partition is so I can mount it like the b*tch it is.
kmj
The only reason I keep my ms-dos partition is so I can mount it like the b*tch it is.
There is more info, and more pictures at
0 dispatch.html#a
http://www.discovery.com/exp/libertybell7/99072
It has a nice discussion of the explosives on the inside of the capsule, and some more pictures.
How is sticking one's head in the sand a sign of class? Knowing whether or not the hatch blew is useful from a technical perspective -- unless we plan on never again using spacecraft that might have a similar design (e.g. an orbit-to-orbit craft, or a surface to orbit craft for other terrestrial planets, or ...). They should make every effort to know every detail about what happened to that capsule, the hatch, and any other relevant artifacts. That knowledge could save the lives of numerous future spacegoing people.
Engineers study each others failures as much as their successes, in order to not repeat design mistakes. Pilots study accident reports in order to (hopefully) not repeat the piloting mistakes of others (JFK Jr. could have undoubtably benefited from doing this, as the decisions he made were truly unforgivable, and have previously, for many other unfortunate pilots, had the same deadly results). This has nothing to do with disrespect for the dead, but rather an ernest and very responsible effort to prevent trajedies from being repeated.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Congradulations to NASA for the recovery of the Liberty Bell 7.
That's my 1/50 of $1.00 US
JM
Big Brother is watching, vote Libertarian!!
--Justin Mitchell
"2nd Place is a fancy word for losing" --Bender (Futurama)
The Pima Air and Space Museum also has a SR-71 and some early space type stuff (I think replicas, but its been a while.) The most amazing thing they have is an entire, intact, though deactivated, TITAN II missle silo just south of Tuscon. They even let you push the Button. A VERY weird feeling to say the least.
Travis
Extremism in the cause of liberty is no vice, Moderation in the cause of freedom is no virtue. --B.Goldwater
I saw a documentary a year or so ago which said that Grissom died in the fire on the Apollo 1 because the hatch could not be opened fast enough to save them.
The hatch had been redesigned just before the incident so that it would take at least 15 seconds (or something like that) to open, thus preventing the possibility of the hatch being opened accidentally, or by a panicked crew member before they could be restrained.
The tragic irony was that Grissom had insisted on the redesign himself. He was a great man and a sad loss.
The Liberty Bell will be in Hutchinson at the Cosmosphere in about a week and will be displayed for the following six months as it's restored. A division of the Cosmosphere, the recently-defunct Space Works, was responsible for several replicas of spacecraft used in movies including Apollo 13 and the HBO series Earth to Moon. Some of the same workers will be restoring the Liberty Bell.
The Cosmosphere recently acquired status as an official branch of the Smithsonian, and remains one of the best aerospace museums in the world. The foyer was built around an authentic SR-17 Blackbird, perched on its nose at an angle.
More info about the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is here. Friday and Saturday, Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan will be on hand to sign copies of his book, "Last Man on the Moon."
J.
damned vulpine http://sb.drtwister.com/
A lot of astronauts found the Gemini capsules small. In fact, the astronauts called the Gemini the "Gusmobile" because they thought that only Gus Grissom (who was short) could fit comfortably in it.
Grissom's wife opposed the recovery and said that the capsule belongs on the bottom of the ocean.
The folks at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum have a lot more in their collection than they are showing. They have stuff like an SR-71 and the Space Shuttle atmospheric test prototype "Enterprise". Lots of this is sitting in a hangar at Washington Dulles International Airport because they don't have any place to show it, but they finally got the money to build an annex where they can show this stuff. I hope they'll let you inside the Shuttle prototype...
You see, we were concerned about our astronauts coming back alive. All of these are safety features. In fact, we didn't send up people in unsafe rockets just to be first. The Soviet Union however, sent men up without spacesuits/pressure suits at times to save weight, sent three men in a ship built for two, had few if any controls in the ship, and had them land on the tundra. Can you say "Oy, my achin' back!"? Squeezing men into a metal capsule led to the term Spam in a Can among pilots. Let's just say that USSR is lucky they didn't lose more men than we know about.
--Somewhere there is a village missing an idiot.