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| Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) Signed Launch Cover. A Swanson printed cachet cover with a 4¢ stamp affixed and cancelled at Patrick Air Force Base on July 21, 1961, the launch day of MR-4 mission. It features a "Man-in-Space/ Mission of Project Mercury" illustrated cachet. Signed by Virgil I. Grissom and Hermann Oberth. |
Mercury-Redstone 4 (MR-4) was the second United States human spaceflight, piloted by the astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom on July 21, 1961. The spaceflight lasted 15 minutes 30 seconds, reached an altitude of 190.4 km, and it flew 486.2 km downrange, landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
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| Photo: MR-4 launch on July 19, 1961 was further postponed due to bad weather condition. |
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| Photo: (left) Virgil "Gus" Grissom, the pilot for the second US manned space flight mission (MR-4) on July 21, 1961. (center) John Glenn, the backup pilot for MR-4. (right) Alan Shepard, the first American in space when he rode his Mercury spacecraft in MR-3 space flight mission |
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| A rare MR-4 "SpaceCraft" printed cachet cover cancelled at Patrick Air Force Base on the launch day July 21, 1961. Only 50 such covers were produced. |
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| Photo: "Stepping from the van that took him to the launching pad, Capt. Virgil I. Grissom approached the rocket. Throughout his flight, he reported calmly to listeners at Cape Canaveral, on the recovery ship and at the Grand Bahama island. While in night, he said "the fascinating view" kept him looking out the window so that he failed to perform some tasks. AP Wirephoto. July 21, 1961." |
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Photo: Virgil I. Grissom and his Mercury spacecraft "Liberty Bell".
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| Photo: The space flight of MR-4, piloted by Gus Grissom on July 21, 1961. |
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 he was recovered safely via a U.S. Navy helicopter and flown to carrier Randolph. The spacecraft sank into the Atlantic and it was not recovered until 1999.
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| Mercury-Redstone 4 recovery ship cover with a USS Randolph, July 21, 1961 postmark, signed in black ballpoint by Virgil I. Grissom. - RRAuction |
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| Photo: Grissom floats in water waiting to be rescued, while another recovery helicopter tugs the sinking Mercury spacecraft. |
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| Mercury MR-4 USS Randolph recovery ship cover signed by Captain Harry Edward Cook, Jr. |
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| Photo: Gus Grissom aboard USS Randolph, July 21, 1961. |
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| Mercury MR-4 USS Randolph recovery ship cover with a printed Navy Department cachet, double cancelled with the rare New York USS Randolph registered mail cancel in red on July 21, 1961. |
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| Photo: "A marine helicopter hovered above the waters of the Atlantic Friday in an attempt to retrieve the Mercury space capsule that carried air force Capt. Virgil I. Grissom 303 miles out into the ocean. After the capsule plummeted into the water the escape hatch blew off prematurely for some unexplained reason. Grissom clambered out as the capsule filled with water. This copter tried to lift it but the added weight of the water was too heavy a load. The cable was cut and the capsule sank in nearly three miles of water, carrying with it valuable films and records of Grissom's flight. AP Wirephoto." |
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This cover has an autopen signature of "Gus Grissom", it has a postmark variation with "RANDOLPH (CVS-15)" at the bottom that is not often seen.
The "BARNHART" postmark is applied on the first day issue of the President John Fitzgerald Kennedy stamp. |
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| Photo: Recovery helicopter dips into the water in an attempt to retrieve the sinking Mercury spacecraft. The recovery of the flooded spacecraft failed because it was beyond the helicopter's lifting capacity. |
(Reference from
Mercury-Redstone 4)
