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Artifact:  Liberty Bell 7 flown film lucite display Artifact Category:  film, lucite. Date of use:  July 21, 1961. Manufacturer: Lucite ...


Artifact: Liberty Bell 7 flown film lucite display
Artifact Category: film, lucite.
Date of use: July 21, 1961.
Manufacturer: Lucite made by Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.
Dimensions: 21.3 x 4.3 x 7.2 cm.
Weight: 561 gr.
Program: Mercury.
Flown Status: flown.
Part Nr.: 791 of 1000.

Description: This filmstrip from Liberty Bell 7 recovered from the Atlantic Ocean on July 20. 1999, from a depth of 16.043 feet, was removed during an extensive restoration conducted on the spacecraft by the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center In Hutchinson, Kansas. The pilot observation camera, in which the film was housed, dissolved over time and the film fell to the floor of the capsule where it was encased in mud and corroding debris. The 38-year exposure 10 the elements made the film unsalvageable and it could not be returned to the capsule during the restoration. Issued in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Liberty Beil 7 fight, proceeds derived from making these limited edition artifacts available was used to support the Cosmosphere’s exhibit and education programs.

The main objective of the mission was to evaluate the performance of the Mercury capsule and to test the astronaut's ability to manually control the spacecraft. During the 15-minute suborbital flight, Grissom performed a number of manual maneuvers, including pitch and roll changes, and tested the capsule's manual control system.

However, shortly after splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, the explosive bolts of the capsule's hatch unexpectedly fired, causing the capsule to flood with water and sink to the bottom of the ocean. Grissom was able to escape and was rescued by a recovery helicopter, but the spacecraft was lost.

After the hatch of Liberty Bell 7 opened prematurely, gallons of seawater entered the spacecraft. A helicopter recovery team attempted to empty the water, as seen in this photo. Seconds after this picture was taken, the Marine helicopter dropped the spacecraft because it was too heavy to continue lifting, and the capsule sank to the ocean floor. Credit: NASA.

The cause of the hatch failure has been debated over the years, with some suggesting that Grissom may have accidentally triggered the hatch release switch, while others believe it was a malfunction of the hatch mechanism itself.

A close-up of the Liberty Bell 7 capsule, recovered from the ocean floor, shows the lettering "United States" still clearly visible on its side. Credit: NASA.

Despite the loss of the spacecraft, the Liberty Bell 7 mission was considered a success in terms of the performance of the Mercury capsule and Grissom's ability to manually control it.

Item:  Apollo 13 flown Command Module film on Fred Haise signed cover Size: Size: 16.2 x 9. 2 cm. Description: A piece of film on the fro...

Item: Apollo 13 flown Command Module film on Fred Haise signed cover
Size: Size: 16.2 x 9. 2 cm.

Description:
A piece of film on the front and back of the cover and signed by Fred Haise on the cover. The inscription on the front reads: "Splashdown - Crew recover.
April 17, 1970 - After jettison on the LM "lifeboat" and the damaged Service Module, the Apollo 13 crew returned safely to Earth as their Command Ship Odyssey splashed down less than 4 miles from the awaiting recovery ship, USS Iwo Jima, in the South Pacific Ocean. The splashdown was perfect and once on board the carrier deck, astronauts Lovell, Haise and Swigert, looked tired but happy. The curtain was brought down on the most harried and critical flight emergency of the entire NASA manned space program. Never in recorded history was a journey of such peril been watched and waited-out by almost the entire human race."

On the back of the cover says:
"Flown film
This is a piece of 70 mm Apollo 13 film fom a roll of processed film. The film was salvaged by Dick Underwood, NASA Supervisory Aerospace Technologist, who was ran the developing machines at NASA for ll returning flights."

"Also a piece of Apollo 13 flown film on the front of this cover"

Signed by Sandy Clarkson, The Right Stuff Space

Apollo 13 flown film
This film segment on the postal cover is from the Dick Underwood collection.

Apollo 13 carried 4 Hasselblad 70mm cameras. Only 2 of the cameras were used taking a total of 584 exposures. The exposures were captured on 5 magazines; 95 on B&W film and 489 on color film.


Because of the oxigen tank explosion in the Service Module the focus of the mission changed from the third lunar landing to bringing the crippled ship and crew home safely. The cameras played a critical role in capturing the photos of the LM's Lithium Hydroxide Canister as "fixed" by Jim Lovell and Jack Swigert. Photos of the Service Module as it was released from the Command Module allowed a detailed analysis of the damage caused by the explosion. As Fred Haise has stated "The damage looked much worse than expected".

The film leaders and tails that Dick UNderwood salvaged 50 years ago were recently rediscovered. Thankfully film from several missions were each packaged separately. And we are fortunate Underwood not only saved the film remnants but also documented exactly which mission each leader and tail came from.

For Apollo 13 the photo below is one section of film today. This film is from Underwood's Apollo 13 envelope containing all flown laders and tails, but no magazine identification is indicated. One of the Apollo 13 film magazines used by the crew contained 6 images that NASA determined were unusuable (AS-13-9040 to AS13-63-9045). This film magazine was unnamed. The small piece of film affixed to this envelope is flown and is from the unnamed magazine.

As can be seen due to age and poor storage conditions portions of the film are different colores. The film leader/tail have plastic extensions tapped to the end of the film. These extensions were added as means to feed the film into the processing machine used to develop the film rolls. For this project, as seen in the photograph, the grey plastic extensions have been separated from the actual film.

Dimensions: 13 x 3 x 7 cms. Weight: 341 gr. Description: The embedded 70 mm film was used on the lunar surface at Tranquility Base. A tota...

Dimensions: 13 x 3 x 7 cms.
Weight: 341 gr.

Description: The embedded 70 mm film was used on the lunar surface at Tranquility Base. A total of 107 photographs were taken on the film roll while on the lunar surface during Apollo 11. Magazine Q catalogue AS11-39-5737 to AS11-39-5843, black and white images taken from the Lunar Module. The film came from Supervisory Aerospace Technologist Richard W. Underwood.

Lunar meteorite NWA 11303 (History: Material excavated from a site near Tindouf, Algeria, was purchased by Dustin Dickens in March 2017 from a Mauritanian dealer. The coordinates of the site are unknown. Physical characteristics: Many small fragments coated by pale reddish-brown terrestrial weathering products. The fresh interiors of the largest fragments exhibit white to beige clasts in a dark gray, fine-grained matrix. Petrography: (A. Irving and S. Kuehner, UWS) Breccia composed of angular mineral grains of anorthite, olivine, orthopyroxene, exsolved pigeonite, ferroan pigeonite, augite, ilmenite, Ti-chromite and fayalite in a partly vesicular matrix containing minor kamacite and barite. Classification: Lunar (feldspathic regolith breccia).

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