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I can only find a launch time of 12:20 UTC -no seconds listed and so put landing at 15 min 37 sec. past that. Rmhermen 15:42, Nov 26, 2003 (UTC)

I found something saying it was exactly on the minute, but it was like such for Mercury 5 and Mercury 3 as well (especially when it seemed to have a conflicting time for Mercury 5), so I removed the exact time. I suppose it's fine as it is. -- Pipian

On the REFERENCE list near the bottom of the Wikipedia Mercury 4 webpage is a reference manual link called - "Results Of The Second U.S. Manned Suborbital Spaceflight July 21, 1961 (NASA)". PDF Page 33 (manual page 31) of this reference lists MR-3 launch time as 9:34:13 e.s.t. and MR-4 launch time as 7:20:36 e.s.t. Rusty 20:12, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

"Mrs. Grissom was not invited to the White House as per the forming tradition with previous astronaut wives upon successful mission completion." Wasn't there only one astronaut (and hence only one wife) who had completed a successful mission at this stage (Shepherd in Mercury 3)? -R. fiend 17:58, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Hence "forming tradition"? Didn't NASA have a SOP worked up? (Everything else did...).

For what it's worth, didn't LB7 fly atop a Redstone IV? Trekphiler 11:42, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Omission

I don't see the name of the recovery ship, CV-15 Randolph, or the helo unit that attempted the pickup of Liberty Bell 7. Can somebody confirm & include? Trekphiler 01:31, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

I can confirm from This New Ocean that the recovery ship was Randolph. I haven't been able to identify any of the destroyers or the recovery squadron. There were (at least) two Marine helicopters, side-numbers 30 and 32 and tail code ET(?), and one Navy helicopter, side-number 52 and tail code unclear, if those mean anything.

For MR-3, the helicopter group was MAG-26 - this used a different carrier, Lake Champlain, but they're described as "a veteran recovery unit" and it's possible they were embarked on whichever carrier was used. Certainly one of the crewmembers involved had been in the Shepard rescue. Shimgray | talk | 23:38, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Move

I have proposed that all Mercury missions are re-named. This will affect this page. So they can be discussed together on one page, I've set up a subpage of my user talk page for discussion of the moves. --GW_Simulations_{|User Page | Talk | Contribs | E-mail} 20:38, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Explosive Device

"After Liberty Bell 7 was secured in the deck of the recovery ship, experts removed and disposed of an explosive device that was supposed to detonate in the event of the capsule's sinking but which failed to explode." The explosive device was called a SOFAR bomb, Sound Fixing and Rangeing, made by the Bermite Corporation in Santa Clarita, CA. The device was a one pound (net explosive weight) barometrically fired signaling device meant to alert recovery vessels in the area through their sonar. The SOFAR bomb would arm as it sank through approximately 3,500 feet of sea water, and fire at approximatelly 4,000 feet. There were two on the capsul: one in a pocket on the main parachute risers and one behind the instrument bulkhead. The one on the parachute risers would be ejected as the parachute deployed, fall to the ocean surface, sink, arm and detonate thus alerting the recovery ships through their sonar on what bearing the capsul would soon land. The second SOFAR bomb was intended to detonate if the capsul sank giving an indication where it sank and destroying the instrument bulkhead thus insuring it sank so no unfriendly nation could recover it.

Source: I am the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician who was on the recovery ship and found and disposed of the second dud SOFAR bomb in the recovered capsul. See the Discovery Channel documentary.