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Forum: Hardware & Flown Items
Topic: Space capsule metal flotation spheres (balls)

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Message to Edit: HTML is ON UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend	Originally posted by Joel Katzowitz on 11-02-2015 06:29 PM Whether or not the spheres were flown as part of the Mercury spacecraft is one issue. I've been trying to find corroborating evidence to support that for a while now but haven't had much luck. However, there is a good bit of documentation that similar spheres were used in the early Gemini missions (GT-2 and GT-3). As far as their function is concerned, there is evidence available to backup the flotation/buoyancy theory. To quote a handwritten note I received from Guenter Wendt regarding the spheres: <BLOCKQUOTE>[i]These little balls were used in the early Mercury capsules (Ham, Shepard, and Grissom), which had beryllium heat shields, to upright the s/c after a water landing. They were located in little bags in the forward (cylindrical) section of the capsule. Discontinued after we went to the phenolic heat shields. (Glenn)[/i] — Guenter</BLOCKQUOTE>
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