Liberty Bell 7 sinks
Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom was the second of the Mercury astronauts to launch. His 15-minute suborbital flight in July 1961 went well. But the recovery wasn’t as easy. The plan was for the recovery team to hook a line and pull the capsule hatch above the water. Grissom would hit a button to open the hatch and climb out of the capsule. Things went awry when the recovery crews had to cut off some of the radio antennae to attach the hook. Recovery crews saw a flash when the cutter touched the antenna, and the hatch blew off. Recovery crews could not pull the hatch above the water line. Water poured into the capsule, making it too heavy for the recovery helicopter to lift it up. The capsule sank into the Atlantic Ocean. Grissom didn’t even have time to close his suit to prevent water intrusion and nearly drowned.