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[b]Space Cover 716: Liberty Bell 7[/b] Above is a Space Craft Cachet postmarked at Patrick AFB on July 21, 1961, when Virgil I (Gus) Grissom was launched on a 15.5 minute suborbital flight, known as Mercury-Redstone 4 (MR4) in a capsule named Liberty Bell 7. The cachet is #8 in Vukotich's "Space Craft Covers: A Monograph and Catalog" and he lists only 30 as having been made. It is often informally referred to as a "Green Grissom" being nearly identical to Space Craft Cachets issued for MR's 1 through 3, only in green ink instead of black. All of you probably know that the flight was a textbook repeat of Shepard's earlier MR-3 flight, that is until after splashdown. As Liberty Bell 7 floated in the ocean, its hatch suddenly blew, it started taking on water, and Grissom had to swim for his life. One recovery helicopter tried to lift the capsule out of the water, but the waterlogged capsule was too heavy, causing too much strain on the helicopter engine, and the crew had to cut the cable to the spacecraft and let it sink. Meanwhile Grissom, swimming in a lot of rotor wash from the helicopter with his space suit filling with water through an open oxygen port, was finally rescued by another helicopter before further disaster. He was flown to the prime recovery ship, the aircraft carrier USS Randolph. Here is a cover from the Randolph for Grissom's recovery. It features the "Randolph Over" hand cancel (the words "USS Randolph" are at the top of the die hub), and a Swanson self-serve rubber stamped cachet. "Randolph Under" postmarks also exist from the Randolph for this recovery. After the flight, Grissom received all the medals that Shepard did, but not at the White House as Shepard had. And Grissom took a lot of (likely unfounded) blame for blowing the hatch too early. In 1999, Liberty Bell 7 was found and recovered from the ocean floor, and investigations indicated static electricity as the likely cause for the hatch to blow (not Gus). So, let's show Gus some of the respect that he didn't get back then, and post your favorite MR-4 Liberty Bell 7 covers! And if any of you have covers for the recovery of Liberty Bell 7 in 1999, let's post those too!
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