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Search for the Liberty Bell 7
August 02, 1999
For the survey crews of John E. Chance & Associates, the job site is usually a rig in the Gulf of Mexico to
perform offshore operations. But these days, the technology pioneer has been playing an integral role in recovering a part of
space history.
Chance has been providing navigation and deepwater positioning services in search efforts and retrieval of the sunken Liberty
Bell 7 spaceship which until recently has been sitting on the ocean floor three miles down near the Bahamas.
The recovery of the historic space capsule is being sponsored by the Discovery Channel, which is producing a documentary on the
expedition to be broadcast on December 12, 1999.
Renowned for its expertise with satellite positioning, Chance was subcontracted by Oceaneering International (Houston, TX), the
undersea search and salvage company to assist with locating and retrieving the capsule which lay half a mile deeper than the
Titanic's undersea grave. Chance utilized its proprietary graphic survey tool called STARFIX.NAV®.
The Mercury capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on July 21, 1961. Astronaut Gus Grissom, who had just finished flying the
second U.S. manned spaceflight, nearly drowned when the hatch blew open unexpectedly and the capsule sank. Grissom died in 1967
in a fire during testing of the Apollo I capsule.
The Liberty Bell 7 is the only U.S. space capsule ever lost at sea. Chance was part of the team of high tech explorers who braved
very rough seas to locate the NASA relic on May 1, 1999. The expedition team recovered the 7' spaceship made of titanium and
aluminum from the waters of the Bahamas on July 20, 1999.
The Kansas Space and Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas (an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute) will restore the spacecraft in
preparation for public display. A national exhibit tour sponsored by the Discovery Channel is planned for the future.
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