GRISSOM'S LIBERTY BELL 7 SINKS DURING RECOVERY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 21, 1961, Liberty Bell 7, a spacecraft piloted by astronaut Gus Grissom*, splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean only to sink during the recovery process. President John F. Kennedy watched live television coverage at the White House.
While the flight itself was deemed a success, NASA officials were more than concerned about the sinking of Grissom's space capsule. The capsule was unable to be saved.
At a post-flight press conference, Grissom was asked how he felt during the ordeal, he said...
"Well, I was scared a good portion of the time."
In the afternoon, JFK signed into law HR 6874 authorizing the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
*Virgil "Gus" Grissom (1926-1967) was born in Mitchell, Indiana & served in the US Army Air Forces during WWII. After the war, he earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering at Purdue, then re-enlisted in the USAF & served as a fighter pilot in the Korean War. VGG was chosen as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. He died in the pre-launch test fire of Apollo 1 which took the lives of two of his fellow astronauts.
Astronaut Gus Grissom
Liberty Bell 7
NASA Photo
