Liberty Bell 7
Astronaut Gus Grissom climbs into Liberty Bell 7
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| Mission type | Test flight | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA | ||||
| Mission duration | 15 minutes, 37 seconds | ||||
| Range | 486.15 kilometers (262.50 nmi) | ||||
| Apogee | 190.31 kilometers (102.76 nmi) | ||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||
| Spacecraft | Mercury No.11 | ||||
| Manufacturer | McDonnell Aircraft | ||||
| Launch mass | 1,286 kilograms (2,835 lb) | ||||
| Crew | |||||
| Crew size | 1 | ||||
| Members | Virgil I. Grissom | ||||
| Callsign | Liberty Bell 7 | ||||
| Start of mission | |||||
| Launch date | July 21, 1961, 12:20:36 UTC | ||||
| Rocket | Redstone MRLV MR-8 | ||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-5 | ||||
| End of mission | |||||
| Recovered by | USS Randolph | ||||
| Landing date | July 21, 1961, 12:36:13 UTC | ||||
| Landing site | 27°32′9″N 75°45′57″W / 27.53583°N 75.76583°W | ||||
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Spacecraft name as painted on capsule side, with a "crack"
Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States human spaceflight, on July 21, 1961. The suborbital Project Mercury flight was launched with a Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, MRLV-8. The spacecraft, Mercury capsule #11, was named Liberty Bell 7 and piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom.
The flight lasted 15 minutes 30 seconds, reached an altitude of more than 102.8 nautical miles (190.4 km) and traveled 262.5 nautical miles (486.2 km) downrange, landing in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight went as expected until just after splashdown, when the hatch cover, designed to release explosively in the event of an emergency, accidentally blew. Grissom was at risk of drowning, but was recovered safely. The capsule sank into the Atlantic and was not recovered until 1999.
Mercury spacecraft #11 was designated to fly the second manned suborbital flight in October, 1960. It came off McDonnell's St. Louis production line in May 1960. Spacecraft #11 was the first Mercury operational spacecraft with a centerline window instead of two portholes. It was closer to the final orbital version than was Alan Shepard's Freedom 7. Dubbed Liberty Bell 7, it featured a white, diagonal irregular paint stripe starting at the base of the capsule and extending about two-thirds toward the nose, emulating the crack in the famed Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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