Flown and Recovered Mercury Liberty Bell 7 Radio

60 years ago, Gus Grissom became the second American to fly to space, and while the flight was nominal, his hatch blew prematurely after splashdown, and his Mercury LB7 capsule sank to the bottom of the sea, with Grissom nearly drowning.

The capsule was recovered in 1999 from a depth of 16K ft., deeper than the Titanic. The Cosmosphere Museum did the restoration work, selling some bolts and corroded components to help finance the restoration. This flown radio is the largest LB7 subsystem in a private collection.

The black base is an integral part of the electronics chassis, a form of potting to prevent the discrete wires connecting the components from shifting or coming loose in flight.