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Author
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Topic: Liberty Bell 7 Recovery
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Boggs SpaceBooks
unregistered
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posted December 15, 1999 06:06 PM
 
With all due respect I disagree with Robert's essay on the recovery of Liberty Bell 7. I'm delighted as is Gus's brother Lowell, that the spacecraft has been found and will be visible to millions of people. It's a high tribute to Gus as a fellow Hoosier (one from Indiana). To compare this to the salvage of the Apollo 11 Descent Stage is faulty logic--Liberty Bell 7 was supposed to come back--the Eagle was designed to stay on the Moon.
Donald Boggs |
collshubby
Member Posts: 591
From: Madisonville, Louisiana
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted December 15, 1999 06:32 PM
 
I agree. I watched the show with great interest and found it facisnating. I didn't see anything wrong with recovering the spacecraft. It wasn't an underwater tomb like the Titanic, or meant to be there forever. I understand that it is supposed to go on a nation-wide tour after its restoration. I hope to get to see it. ------------------
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted December 15, 1999 07:47 PM
Donald,Good point about the recovery intentions in regards to both crafts. However, would you assign any historical significance to the location where either came to rest? I know personally, I would have much rather had the opportunity to witness the spacecraft on the ocean floor or even in a simulated ocean floor within a museum, then examine the restored capsule. (Of course, that's not to say if I get a chance to see Liberty Bell 7 that I will pass on the opportunity :-) ) |
Boggs SpaceBooks
unregistered
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posted December 15, 1999 09:40 PM
Robert,The question of historical significance is an interesting one. I don't ever expect to have the opportunity to visit the former underwater site of Liberty Bell 7 nor Tranquility Base. There is an issue of accessibility, convenience and preservation. Think of all the artifacts that are in museums. Would you rather them remain in their former resting places?
Don |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted December 15, 1999 10:40 PM
Donald,There is a difference between the Liberty Bell 7 and most of the other material found in museums. Namely, most artifacts are retired to a museum after they have outlived their usefulness and are too valuable for the junk yard. Liberty Bell 7 was in a location where it could have sat for the rest of time. Instead LB7 was recovered to place in a museum. There were other options, such as more extensive video footage, virtual tours, and gradually, bringing people down to visit it on the ocean floor (as is now being done with the Titanic). - Robert |
RussStill
unregistered
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posted December 17, 1999 11:02 AM
A very interesting viewpoint in Robert's essay. One I had never thought of. I think the precident had been set for doing salvage of historic and/or valuable derelicts long ago. Actually, the idea of leaving them undisturbed is probably a more contemporary idea. I can only go to aviation as my analog. Antique (including WWII) aircraft are a huge rarity these days. I consider them one of our national treasures. Yet, relatively few of them still exist. Whenever one is discovered, someone will usually surface to rescue it and hopefully restore it. Instead of becoming dust and being remembered only in pictures, the actual object can still be seen and touched. Now I do understand your contention that removing Grissoms capsule and restoring actually destroys the history. Can't argue with that. The loss of the spacecraft at sea IS part of the history. But I suppose I'd rather loose that part of the story, than loose the entire thing.But nonetheless, a very thought-provoking idea. It did its job and stirred up some opinions. |
Jay Gallentine
unregistered
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posted January 17, 2000 11:19 PM
Although I'm a space buff, I wouldn't consider myself qualified, really, to answer the question of 'Is recovering Liberty Bell right or wrong?' I'm not a scientist or pilot, there's only my personal opinion.So I asked Wally Schirra what he thought, adding, 'There is some speculation that recovery may contain the answer to what really happened when the hatch blew.' His reply (Quoted): 'Anytime, when we can recover an aircraft or spacecraft that has had an accident, it is worth it.' Going beyond that, there is a fine analogy already submitted here by 'RussStill', one of WWII aircraft: Would you rather remember the planes, through film and photos, as they once were, or be able to experience the craft perfectly restored? Restorations, excavations, recoveries, confined to museums or not, allow the public to experience history the way no book or movie can. I've seen - and put my hands on - the Rosetta Stone and the bones of a T-Rex. I've stood a window's thickness away from the mummy of a great Pharoah. And I have emerged with a greater sense of history that had I not. Should these items have been left 'where they landed?' Only if the capsule is destroyed, is the history destroyed. |
Tom
unregistered
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posted April 12, 2000 04:19 AM
When I looked at the Gemini 10 capsule, situated here in Norway, I thinked about LB7.
If the spacecraft had been lost in an orbit, I wouldn't try to get it down!
But in the ocean, a place far away from space and a place where a spaceship doesn't belong, I would try my best to recover it.
Since Gus didn't follow it down himself,
of course.
Titanic was a ship, and it belongs to the ocean. Many people including the captain drowned with that ship. But Gus stayed above water, alive. Therefore I think Gus wanted it to be recovered, so we perhaps could get an answer to what happened during splashdown.
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ekrutulis
unregistered
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posted April 12, 2000 11:14 PM
Ironic, I'm heading up a company sponsored program at the Titanic exhibit here in Chicago(two weeks from tonight). My point is how each individual looks at the subject. We, astro collectors, view the Liberty Bell 7 recovery a unique piece of the space program that has been a mystery. I love looking at Carpenter's Aurora 7 capsule vs Apollo 8. I will pay to view Liberty Bell 7.Now the Titanic, the tour exhibit has over 200 raised artifacts from the debris field and a 13ton section of the hull raised. Each ticket holder will have an actual passenger name on their ticket and they find out at end of exhibit if that passenger survived or died. Again, it's how YOU look at the subject. Great topic. Ed Krutulis
ekrutulis@aol.com |
CPIA
Member Posts: 300
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted May 12, 2000 10:53 PM
Robert;
I think I can speak with some authority on recovery of marine artifacts. I salvage, recover and collect marine items from the ocean floor.
I have found items ranging from spikes made in Paul Revere's foundry from a revolutionary war vessel to first class crystal wine glasses from the Andrea Doria. Some of these items are now in two different museums from everyone to view.
Unfortunately, the sea is not as benign a place as you may think. The sea's mechanical, biological and chemical erosion processes (ie marine life, storm currents or electrolysis) will eventually destroy all marine wrecks. The Liberty Bell 7 would have been consumed by the effects of these aforementioned processes in time. So the capsule's salvage was of some import, since even at 16,000 feet the spacecraft would be completely destroyed over time. Plus we now get the chance to view this historical item. Visiting such a place as the Grand Truk trench would be out of the question in terms of danger, expense and logistics for most people. The water pressure alone at 16,000 feet is about 7,000 pounds per inch. A museum would be a nicer place to visit.
One of your reply's mentioned the Titanic. Ballard's and Tulloch's research have found that the Titanic will be reduced to a pile of rusticals within the next eighty years. Destroyed for no one to see.
Tulloch's show lends impact to the loss of Titanic by allowing us to see pieces of a past generation. Can anyone who has seen the exhibit not be haunted by the steward's watch that had stopped at the time of the sinking?
Artifacts that have been archaeologically documented and recovered allow people of future generations to view, understand and reflect on the impact of historical events. Artifacts bring attention to such events. Perserved artifacts are a permanent record of history.
One hopes that the recovery of the Liberty Bell 7 brings more attention to the exploration of Space. | |
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