In July 1961, Liberty Bell 7 was the second Mercury spacecraft into space, piloted by Gus Grissom. It was a suborbital flight that splashed down a few hundred miles east of Florida.

As Grissom waited for the recovery ship to pick him up, the explosive bolts on the hatch mysteriously blew and the capsule began to flood. Grissom swam out and was rescued. The helicopter tried to lift the craft, but it had already taken on too much water and had to be cut loose. It sank 15,000 feet to the bottom of the Atlantic.

In July 1999, exactly 38 years later, Liberty Bell 7 was raised to the surface.

The spacecraft is currently on display at Space Center Houston, behind glass and in a dim room (for dramatic effect, I suppose). After 38 years at the bottom of the ocean, you can still clearly read the painted words on the outside, "Liberty Bell 7" and "United States."

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