Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Someone misplace their spaceship?

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Posted by LB4747 on :

For the space enthusiasts in the crowd:

The Liberty Bell 7, found 3 miles below the Atlantic after 38 years on Saturday evening. Sunk after the hatch accidentlly blew off following landing. Unfortunately, the submersible used to find the capsule has now joined it on the ocean floor after the its line snapped. But, the plan is for both the submersible and Liberty Bell to be recovered in a few weeks time.

More info online at: http://www.discovery.com/exp/libertybell7/libertybell7.html

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Lawrence Boucher
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The important thing is not to stop questioning."--Albert Einstein

Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

Cool! Cool! COOOOOOLLLL!!! At last, the first USS Grissom (!) will be returned to us! �)

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

Now we can all find out if it was stuffed to the gills with souvinirs like it showed in "The Right Stuff"!

Cool!

--Baloo

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I just hope that no one in heaven wears stupid T-Shirts that say �I Survived the End of the World and all I got was this crummy T-shirt!�

Posted by Xentrick (Member # 64) on :

Leave it alone! The thing is obviously jinxed!

[God, I still pity poor Gus Grissom. He always had that cloud of doubt hanging over him after his capsule sank, and when he was finally back on the path to heroism, he and two other men are fucking BURNED TO DEATH on the launch pad. He deserved better. Good on you, Gus. Maybe I'll see you on the other side.]

Posted by Trinculo on :

Xentrick: The men in Apollo 1 died of suffocation. After their death, the bodies were consumed by fire. Very efficient I say. First you die, then you are cremated.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Uh...Xentrick was just giving us the condensed version.

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"Fishing promotes a clean mind, healthy body and leaves no time for succumbing to Communistic or Socialistic propaganda."
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Ivar Hemmings, chairman, South Bend Bait Company

Posted by LB4747 on :

Not to get too morbid, but I recall hearing that the bodies of the Apollo 1 crew were not burned at all. In fact, there were no visible burns on them -- evidently their spacesuits protected them from the actual flames. The official cause of death was asphyxiation.

On a related note, apparently Grissom's widow is staunchly opposed to raising the Liberty Bell. Not quite sure why since it wasn't his grave. And his son has been spouting off conspiracy theories about Gus being murdered in the Apollo 1 fire. The whole situation with his family is unfortunate.

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Lawrence Boucher <-- livin la vida loca

Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

Basically, the controversy is this: after splashdown, he was awaiting recovery when the explosive bolts on his hatch blew. The capsule started to sink and he had to swim for it, nearly drowning because water went into his suit by the neckring and he was weighted down with souvenir trinkets. The rescue chopper got there just in time.

Now, he maintained always that he was just sitting there and it 'just blew.' They tested a capsule to near-destruction and couldn't get it to 'just blow,' even after dropping it onto a concrete floor. The accusation is that he either panicked and blew the hatch deliberately, or caught the handle while thrashing around inside as the capsle rolled in rough seas just after landing. Now they think they'll finally find the answer.

On reflection, I'm not sure what I think about it. . .

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"Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things!" - Silent Bob

Posted by Simon on :

Why did it take this long to find it?

Posted by LB4747 on :

The capsule's general area in the water was always known, it's just that the technology to actually recover it from the ocean floor has only recently become available.

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Lawrence Boucher <-- livin la vida loca

Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :

Found this on the Astronomy Picture of the Day site. A picture of Liberty Bell 7 before it sank.

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