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Mercury Capsule recovered after 38 years 81

Posted by Hemos from the up-from-the-depths-it-arose dept.
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.
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Mercury Capsule recovered after 38 years More

Mercury Capsule recovered after 38 years

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  • Hatch = conspiracy (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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"
  • Well, Nasa still wanted him around, even after the LB7 sinking. In fact, he was known as a test pilot among test pilots, and was given command of the first manned Gemini.

    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?
  • 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? ;-)
  • 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
  • I call dibs on the Yamato.
  • 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?

  • It is likely that the hatch bolts blew from the impact of landing.

    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.
  • 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...


    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...
  • They have one on display at KSC. But it would be almost impossible to get flight ready. Plus, the old pads were converted for the shuttles and the VAB building was converted too.
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • RTFA (Score:2)

    by ch-chuck ( 9622 )
    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.

  • Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:

    Why feel bad for her, this means that we're just one step closer to (possibly) clearing Gus' name.

    LK
  • AFAIK they specifically went after it now in order to correspond to the 30th anniversary.

    Doug

  • And it's in Kansas! Yee Haw! (Score:3)

    by John Fulmer ( 5840 ) on Wednesday July 21, 1999 @04:42AM (#1791753)
    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 [cosmo.org].

    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.
  • Leave the hatch alone; no good can come from it. Either we make Grissom out for a liar, or it turns out that every Mercury astronaut was in far greater danger than previously believed. While I'm not a supporter of "ignorance is bliss", I do believe in "let sleeping dogs lie". Recovering it to find out if Grissom lied is right up there with watching "Real Stories of the Highway Patrol" to get the local gossip... :)
  • 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)

  • Mercury Capsule World Tour (Score:3)

    by DonkPunch ( 30957 ) on Wednesday July 21, 1999 @05:02AM (#1791757) Homepage Journal
    Mercury Capsule World Tour coming soon. The last one was 38 years ago. :)
  • 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.

  • Kansas Cosmosphere (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 21, 1999 @05:04AM (#1791759)
    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.
  • If you want to feel bad for Betty, feel bad that its the 30th aniversary of Apollo 11. Mercury, despite the hatch incident, and Gemini were Gus Grissoms greatest achievements. He died in the fire of Apollo 1 remember. I figure watching all the coverage of the Apollo program (when you can break away from the JFK Jr. stuff) would bring back worse memories for her.

  • Hutch? Great! I'm only an hour from Hutch, I'll have to go see it :)
  • I didn't see anything in the CNN article about the recovery team tossing explosives onboard after recovering Gus. I did see something about the explosive bolts used to take the hatch off - maybe that's what you read? Those are standard on space vehicles.
  • I read somewhere that they already found the capsule, they were just looking for a way to bring it to the surface.

    I read that too. In the article!

    Newport located the spacecraft on May 1, about 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral. But he had to leave it there when the cable to the expedition's robot vessel snapped in rough seas.

  • There was/is speculation that he panicked. Instead of waiting for the helicopter to arrive he (supposedly) blew the hatch early and climbed out into the sea. Claustrophobia? Anxiety? Who knows.

    The bottom of the hatch sat very near the water line and in moderatey rough seas the capsule could take on water. Even a small amount of water would cause the capsule to become unbalanced and list over. If that happened (as it did) the capsule would flood and sink. The $$ loss was only overshadowed by the total loss of onboard telemetry. Basically the sinking totally negated the usefullness of the launch since they lost the capsule and all the data that was supposed to be gathered during the trip.

  • Re:Poor Betty... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Nope. When the capsule was first found, she said she was glad they'd discovered it and hoped that when raised it would provide the evidence needed to back up Gus' claims about the exploding hatch.

    Astronauts' families are generally far more emotionally and psychologically robust than the average American.
  • American astronauts have trouble fitting through a hatch (snip) I think they need to change their diet a bit.

    * * * * *

    Interestingly (and off-topically) - the Voice of Russia shortwave recently revealed (in a sort of 'cosmoglasnost') that their first space walker had a bit of a panic when his suit inflated so much in the vacuum of space that he couldn't get back in! He actually had to release enough pressure to deflate and get in quick. Brave dude.

    Chuck


    Don't Panic!!!!
  • 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.

  • I read somewhere (dang if i could remember, maybe air & space?) that one of the taller Gemini astronauts (6'4") had a lot of trouble getting back into the Gemini after an EVA, due to his height and the suit becoming rigid in the vacuum.

    George
  • >>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 rember seeing an interview with one of the astronauts (Apollo, I think) describing his splashdown. The last thing on his checklist was to remove a camera from a mount and secure it. He didn't do it, and on splashdown it came loose and hit him very hard on the head, nearly knocking him unconcious. He said he was lucky he was not killed by it. It could be something similar happened when Grissom hit, and the camera hit the button for the explosive bolts.

    Cheers
    Eric
  • 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!
  • 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...
  • If NASA thought that Gus 'screwed the pooch' on Liberty Bell 7, his career as an astronaut would have been over. Yet, he was chosen as one of the first Gemini astronauts and one of the first Apollo astronauts. Therefore, I think his name has been sufficiently cleared.
  • Yes, finding that hatch will be hard indeed. It is probably nestled tightly against the ground, perhaps covered with a thin layer of sediment by now. A sonar won't distinguish it from the not-quite-smooth sea floor. Worse, if it's aluminum, it will be mostly corroded away, leaving an even smaller sonar/visual target.

  • Re:Poor Betty... (Score:3)

    by jacoby ( 3149 ) on Wednesday July 21, 1999 @05:16AM (#1791777) Homepage Journal
    Also, you had to hit the switch on the escape hatch hard, and you ended up with a bruised hand. Gus didn't have that. This means hardware failure to me.
  • Not really. It's been more than 30 years since Liberty Bell 7 went up (and then down), and the first expedition was sent out a few months ago. The first expedition would have recovered it, but the ROV they were using died, forcing a delay as they had to get a new one.
  • So, did they find this while they were looking for the Kennedy wreckage?

    kmj
    The only reason I keep my ms-dos partition is so I can mount it like the b*tch it is.

  • Discovery Channel Site Has more info (Score:3)

    by weloytty ( 53582 ) on Wednesday July 21, 1999 @05:27AM (#1791781)
    There is more info, and more pictures at

    http://www.discovery.com/exp/libertybell7/990720 dispatch.html#a

    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.
  • 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!!
  • 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

  • Apollo 1 fire (Score:3)

    by Peter Clary ( 34038 ) on Wednesday July 21, 1999 @05:35AM (#1791785)
    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.

  • Here's the article [hutchnews.com] the local paper (which I work at) ran on the discovery, and here's what the front page looks like [hutchnews.com]. We've been covering the search and recovery mission, which the Cosmosphere director, Max Ary, was present for.

    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. [cosmo.org] Friday and Saturday, Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan will be on hand to sign copies of his book, "Last Man on the Moon."

    J.

  • The Apollo 1 fire took place during a test in which the capsule was presurised with pure O2. The door could only be opened by swinging it inward. Since the O2 pressure was pushing outward there was probably no way that the they could open the door against the O2 pressure even without the fire. They probably would have died from the fire anyway even if the door had been opened since a fire fed by pure oxygen would burn everything very quickly.

    I never understood why they couldn't have done testing with compressed air, or why the astronauts needed to be in the capsule at all. It was a terrible tragedy, but a lot was learned from it.
  • The pressure at the bottom of the sea would crush a sealed object containing surface level pressure. Remember, the pressure delta from sea level to space is 15 pounds per square inch, but the pressure difference from sea level to the bottom of the sea is hundreds of thousands of pounds per square inch.
  • 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...
  • I think they redesigned the hatch again after the fire. The design on Apollo 1 actually had 3 seperate hatches and took about 90 seconds or so to open. They then redesigned the hatches so that there were 2 (I think) and that was quicker to open.

    Gemini had a hatch that could be opened and closed in flight to allow for spacewalks. I don't know if the Apollo hatch allowed for this (probably not because then I bet they would have spacewalked to survey damage on Apollo 13 and see if the service module engine would run without blowing up.)
  • 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?

    It's called a Sofar bomb. The purpose was to deploy when the chutes did, and to detonate when it reached a certain depth. This would be easily visible (audible?) on sonar, and allow for the position of a lost capsule to be computed. It's not really all that dangerous vs all the other things that could go boom on a Mercury capsule. (Ranging from manuvering fuel to retrofire rockets to an explosive hatch that could trigger itself.) IIRC, the sofar bomb was armed and triggered by passing a certain depth.

    Obviously, it didn't work.

  • The capsule had explosive bolts that would blow the door off when a lever was pulled or a button pushed. This was to prevent the astronaut from being trapped in a sinking capsule. It is likely that the hatch bolts blew from the impact of landing. Many people however believe that Gus Grissom panicked and blew the hatch to get out. Either way, the open hatch allowed in water and caused the capsule to sink. This led to the addition of a raft-like ring that inflated when the capsule hit the water. Also added were a couple of balloon-like inflatable balls on top to turn it right side up in the water.

    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.

  • The second episode of "From the Earth to the Moon" has this given from the point of view of the engineer who cleared Gus's name.

    It's worth watching for this one episode... and there are several more really good ones too.

  • Not true.

    http://cnn.com/TECH/space/9905/03/liberty.bell.u pdate/

    His widow, Betty Grissom, feels certain the hatch malfunctioned. In any case, she wishes the capsule was never found.
  • The article on Yahoo 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."

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