Lot 40036
Mercury-Redstone 4 (liberty Bell 7) Flown Compon
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Description
Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) Flown Component from the Recovered Spacecraft in Lucite. A handsome display of 5.25" x 4.25" x 1.75" containing a nut removed from the capsule along with a photo and explanatory text. Gus Grissom was the pilot of this sub-orbital mission, America's second-ever spaceflight, and barely escaped from the capsule as it floated in the Atlantic Ocean after a hatch exploded prematurely. He was rescued, but Liberty Bell 7 sank into the ocean. Near the thirty-eighth anniversary of the flight, a recovery team financed by the Discovery Channel pulled the capsule off the floor of the Atlantic; it was taken to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas for a painstaking restoration. This particular nut was not reinstalled because of the corroded condition of the component to which it was originally attached. These souvenir displays were sold to raise money toward the restoration and exhibition costs and includes a printed Certificate of Authenticity and its original box. As issued condition.
