Chapter 13: A little bruise

Theme: June - July 1961. Covers preparation and flight of Liberty Bell 7. Provides a sobering note to the enthusiasm which followed the great success of Freedom 7.

“O.K., Hunt Club. This is Liberty Bell 7. Are you ready for pick-up?”

“This is Hunt Club 1; this is affirmative.”

“O.K., latch on, then give me a call and I’ll power down and blow the hatch, O.K.?”

Though there is considerable static, Grissom’s voice can be heard clearly as he talks with the helicopters. They are right overhead, about to hook onto Liberty Bell 7 and pull it free of the water. In a moment, Gus will be out and into the horse collar, dangling momentarily in midair on his way up to the helicopter.

In the control center faces are wreathed with smiles. Chris Kraft, the flight director, turns to shake Walt Williams’ hand. At the voice communicator’s position Deke Slayton, John Glenn, and Al Shepard congratulate each other happily. Throughout the flight the astronaut’s voice has come back in familiar phrases, reporting his activities as if he were still seated in the Mercury procedures trainer, running through just one more rehearsal for the real thing. There had been a slight problem with one of the manual modes of attitude control, but it was not of any great significance and the pilot went through his maneuvers as scheduled. The project Mercury team could chalk up another smooth operation.

But now Grissom’s voice is lost. He must have unplugged his microphone from Liberty Bell 7’s radio. He is getting out of the spacecraft. Walt Williams and Al Shepard walk over to the recovery operations room to hear the reports coming in from the carrier.

A moment later, the flight controller’s loop announces, “The astronaut is in the water.”

Startled faces in the control center turn to the glassed opening that leads to the recovery operations room. A momentary hush marks the sudden introduction of tension into an atmosphere that seconds previously had been warm with success.

Grissom is in the water -- but in the control center everyone knows that he should have stepped directly from the spacecraft into the horse collar -- without touching the water.

Before this bulletin can be digested, a second report issues from the loop -- the spacecraft has sunk but Grissom succeeded in removing the camera and tape recorder tape before he made his egress.

Surprised gasps from those familiar with the spacecraft indicates their awareness that the film cannot be removed from the camera, nor the tape from the recorder, without the use of a screwdriver and thirty minutes of the astronaut’s time.

Something is definitely wrong. Mounting concern fills the slow passing of minutes as operations awaits further word.

Finally it comes -- Gus is safe in the helicopter but the spacecraft is definitely lost. Tension eases, smiles return, but most of the faces in the control room are still perplexed; how had the spacecraft been lost?

The question is answered when Walt Williams strides back from the recovery operations room, plugs his headset into his console, and announces, “The explosive hatch apparently fired prematurely, the spacecraft filled with water and sank, but Grissom has been recovered and is in good condition in the helicopter.”

As we flew out to Grand Bahama Island, the number one topic of conversation was the apparent inadvertent firing of the hatch. The main purpose of the coming debriefing would be to determine what had happened. At that time we did not know that we would spend months making exhaustive tests to determine the reason for the hatch failure, and that in the end it would be as great a mystery as it was at that moment. In time, only one thing became clear. Gus had not inadvertently hit the hatch-actuating mechanism. This was not to be proven until nine months later on our first orbital flight. For when John Glenn actuated the explosive hatch of his spacecraft, the firing pin rebounded and hit his hand, producing a small bruise. It was his only “injury” of the flight. Every astronaut who used the explosive hatch had a similar mark. But Gus did not have a bruise anywhere along his right arm, so it was evident that he could not have struck the firing pin. What caused the automatic hatch to open will never be known. But it was not Gus, for had he inadvertently actuated it, he would have had the astronauts’ badge, a little bruise.