Gus Grissom, Liberty Bell 7, the truth

[Tripp]

Well, I'm a space nut, so I found this interesting...both of my parents grew up in Huntsville, so they remember this quite vividly.

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Grissom Didn't Blow It, Facts Show
-Aero News Network

Space.com has done a lot of interviews, asked a lot of the right questions of the right people, and come to a conclusion: Gus Grissom did not blow the hatch on Liberty Bell 7, on the second US manned space flight, back in July of 1961.

The hatch release on the inside of the capsule invariably left bruises on the astronaut who tested it; Grissom had no such marks. The cover plate on the outside of the capsule, that protected the T-handle release (for rescue workers), had blown off the capsule, possibly during re-entry; and it's likely that it "pulled itself" from thermal shock, as the hot capsule hit the water; or that it snagged on a parachute line.

I remember shouting at the helicopter pilot on TV, who did not know what we all had learned in our 4th grade science class a couple months before [that the capsule, once submerged, would be "lighter" than it was when it was empty, and could be held in position until another crew, in a boat, could secure it --ed.], as he dropped the Liberty Bell 7 into the drink, saying, "It's just too heavy." [What we didn't know at the time, was that the helo pilot was seeing a lot of needles in the red, having already tried to lift the waterlogged capsule clear of the ocean. A victim of having more enthusiasm than physics training perhaps, he had to leave, or he likely would have really complicated the rescue effort, adding a chopper to the undersea junk-pile. --ed]

Right after that, the rumors started about Virgil Grissom. Even Tom Wolfe (in The Right Stuff) piled on, calling Grissom a "squirmy hatch blower," which carried into the movie, further damaging the astronaut's legacy. Grissom died in the 1967 fire, along with Edwin White and Roger Chaffee in Apollo 1, in a new-design capsule that had a hatch that couldn't be accidentally blown from the inside. Ironically, since the astronauts' help could not get them out in time, that hatch "improvement," a direct response to Grissom's earlier flight problem, was probably a direct contributor to his death.

The capsule, now recovered and restored [why would they do that? --ed], is on its way to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson (KS), via a nationwide tour of 12 other museums.

Perhaps now the history of Gus Grissom will reflect his greatness.
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[Phoenix]

I hope this article helps Ivan regain some of his reputation.

DEATH FROM ABOVE!

 

[Tripp]

Here's the space.com article:

quote:
Gus Grissom Didn't Sink Liberty Bell 7

By Jim Banke
By Senior Producer,
Cape Canaveral Bureau
posted: 07:00 am ET
17 June 2000


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Gus Grissom didn't do it.

And those who were close to Gus say they have had it with the stories that America's second astronaut panicked at splashdown, accidentally blew his hatch and caused Liberty Bell Seven to sink.

Backing up the sentiment is a theory - you can't quite call it new - about why the hatch with explosive bolts suddenly detonated, filling the Mercury spacecraft with water as Grissom bailed out.

"We cannot prove what happened. It was an unexplained anamoly. But we know that Grissom did not blow the hatch," Guenter Wendt, the man who helped Grissom board his Mercury capsule 39 years ago, told SPACE.com.

On July 21, 1961 a Mercury-Redstone rocket carried Grissom on a 15-minute trip through space, successfully repeating the feat performed by Alan Shepard two months earlier.

But unlike Shepard's Freedom Seven spacecraft, Grissom's Liberty Bell Seven was equipped with a window and a new hatch design capable of being thrown clear by explosive charges as needed after splashdown.

To detonate the ordnance, either Grissom would have to firmly bang his wrist on a plunger inside the capsule, or a diver greeting the spacecraft in the water could move a small panel on the outside and pull on a T-shaped handle.

Later experience would show that if a Mercury astronaut were to detonate the hatch from the inside, the amount of force necessary to hit and activate the plunger would leave a nasty bruise, which Grissom didn't have.

Nevertheless, the rumors began that Grissom was somehow at fault, leaving a blemish on his career that continued even after he perished in 1967 during the Apollo1 fire along with Ed White and Roger Chaffee.

The 1983 movie "The Right Stuff," based on the Tom Wolfe novel, further tarnished Grissom's legacy by it's characterizaton of Gus as a "squirming hatch blower" who didn't have, well, the right stuff.

All because of the hatch on Liberty Bell Seven.

"But I know darn well," said Wendt, with fire and determination in his still-present German accent. "I can give you all the data. What he did and all that jazz. Anybody who comes up with some klondike thing..."

Wendt pauses for a moment and then begins listing and dismissing the theories.

Static charge? No way, Wendt said.

The only way there could be a detonation from unwanted static is if the helicopter had connected its cable to the capsule, but the hatch had already blown by the time the helicopters arrived overhead.

Gus accidentally hit the inside switch? Uh, uh, Wendt said.

To hit the switch so that it would work took all of an astronaut's strength and focus to make it happen. The switch just couldn't be accidentally brushed by an elbow and activate.

Maybe the switch on the outside was accidentally pulled?

"That is the one that I believe in," said Wendt. "It is the most logical explanation. Can we prove it? No."

It's a theory that's been around quite a few years but has received little public attention.

The T-shaped handle made of steel was hidden behind a small panel on the outside of the capsule, put there in case a recovery diver had to blow the hatch to get at a disabled astronaut.

The thinking is that the small panel fell off the capsule either as Liberty Bell Seven deployed its main parachute or shortly after. Grissom himself reported seeing a small hole in the chute that Wendt said approximated the size of the access panel, or shingle.

Once the capsule splashed down, Wendt believes something pulled on the handle just enough to blow the hatch, perhaps a parachute line, or a line associated with one of the green dye markers the capsule deployed after splashdown.

Others have theorized that the sudden change in temperature of the handle once the hot capsule hit the cooler Atlantic water might have triggered the switch as the metal cooled and shrunk a bit.

Whatever the cause, the hatch blew, the rescue helicopter couldn't save the capsule and Liberty Bell Seven spent the next 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic until it was found and recovered last summer during two expeditions led by diving expert Curt Newport.

Experts at the Kansas Cosmosphere since have restored the capsule to near pristine condition, and in the process did not find anything to indict or clear Grissom's reputation.

On Wednesday the capsule debuted at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, beginning a three-year national tour that will take Liberty Bell Seven to 12 museums and science centers from coast to coast.

The spacecraft is the centerpiece of an extremely touching and nostalgic exhibit that begins by introducing visitors to a 1961-era living room surviving the Cold War and includes several hands-on displays that allow kids of all ages to fly a Mercury capsule, feel what the astronauts feel during launch and test their flying skills as they attempt to retrieve Liberty Bell Seven from the water.

Most importantly, the exhibit re-introduces Gus Grissom to the public as an important contributor to the early days of the space program.

"It puts Gus Grissom in the right perspective," said Max Ary, director of the Kansas Cosmosphere. "Gus was one of our great astronauts and I don't think he got his just due. And I hope that as this exhibit travels around the country, he is going to be remembered for who he was, and that was truly one of our great space pioneers."

***
Liberty Bell Seven Tour Schedule

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex from June 17, 2000 to Sept. 17, 2000
The Children's Museum, Indianapolis from Oct. 7, 2000 to Jan. 7, 2001
Liberty Science Center, Jersey City from Jan. 27, 2001 to June 3, 2001
St. Louis Science Center, St. Louis from June 23, 2001 to Sept. 9, 2001
The Tech Museum, San Jose from Sept. 29, 2001 to Jan. 6, 2002
Boston Museum of Science, Boston from Jan. 26, 2002 to March 24, 2002
Kirkpatrick Science & Air Museum, Oklahoma City from April 13, 2002 to June 16, 2002
California Science Center, Los Angeles from June 29, 2002 to Sept. 15, 2002
Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver from Oct. 5, 2002 to Jan. 5, 2003
Science City, Kansas City (MO) from Feb. 4 2003 to May 26, 2003
Museum of Science and History, Ft. Worth from June 14, 2003 to Sept. 7, 2003
National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C., dates still to be announced


Edited by - Tripp on 19 June 2000