I had the distinct pleasure of spending Monday and Tuesday at the Kansas Cosmosphere, where I attended the first public viewing of the newly recovered Apollo F-1 rocket engines on Monday night. See http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-052113a.html.

Yesterday, I was given a tour of the Cosmosphere -- which is awesome if you are interested in space exploration -- and then a special look into the archives, where I was given an opportunity to examine and handle Gus Grissom's Randall Astro from Liberty Bell 7 and some of the other artifacts recovered from the space capsule. This was a rare treat.

Here are some photos that the Cosmosphere graciously allowed me to take and post here. Enjoy!


















Here is a Camillus pocket knife that was also recovered from the Mercury capsule:

sub-zero cool as they would say on Top Gear.

What was the deal with the money? Was there a stash of money on board in case they landed somewhere and needed to pay for help?

Wow!
Great photos David.
Tony

The launch crew put a signed dollar bill and Liberty dimes in the capsule so they could be flown in space and returned to them as keepsakes. This is a common practice that people do on space launches, dives, expeditions, flights, etc.

You lucky dog! Thanks for sharing.

That is WAY COOL! Since I learned of the capsule recovery, I wondered how the knife fared after all those submerged decades.

Thanks for sharing with us Randallphiles.

Here is something new that I learned yesterday: the conservation team recovered a smoked cigarette butt and little cup used as an ashtray from inside the capsule. How is that for a mystery?

David,
Thanks for the photo's!!
Looks like you had a great time!!
:-)Rocky

what a great opportunity. Thanks for sharing

how do you smoke in space?

One would have to "assume", very carefully

inside the capsule

Really good shot David..!!!
Thanks to share it
Guido

The bill in pic #7? Appears to be a more modern version of a "short snorter" momento:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_snorter

http://shortsnorter.org/

With your vast dive experience, David, I really enjoy your posts and also your "access"/photographs of things I would never be able to view but have heard or read about for years.

Thanks Very Much!

Tom Vaught

Thanks, guys. This forum and the Randall collecting community have been very welcoming and helpful to me. I am just giving back.

David,
Thanks for the post and great photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As stated above your "access" to these items and photos
are greatly appreciated.

Ken Lambert
RKCC CM-020
RKS #3610
NRA Benefactor
FOP

That is AWESOME David!

- Rob

I started carrying Randall knives on expeditions because I was shamed into it by a die hard Randall user, former National Geographic cinematographer Ralph White. Ralph would chide me by saying "You're not a real explorer unless you carry a Randall!" When I looked into RMK's history, I found out that he was right.

So far, I have carried the following Randall Models into the field: 5, 15, 16, 16 SPF and 17. It's great to see the real explorers eyes' light up when they see them, like the time Scott Carpenter lit into a guy on a dive boat for referring to my 16 as an "unnecessarily large dive knife." Scott snapped "That's a Randall! Don't you know anything?" It still makes me smile to think about it.

I also have to say thank you to Jim Remar, the President of the Kansas Cosmosphere. Jim was kind enough to take me down into the archives and really spend a lot of time digging just so I could see this knife. He did this because: (1) he is a great guy, and (2) he is really enthusiastic about sharing the Cosmo's amazing collection with the world. So thank you, Jim!

I also have to give a plug for the Cosmosphere. This is a world class facility with an absolutely amazing collection. They do a beautiful job of explaining the history of space exploration from the 1930s until today, starting with the German V-1 rocket and continuing through the space race between the Russians and Americans. They explain WHY space exploration was and still is important, not just what the different hardware is. They put everything into context. IMHO, few organizations "get it" like they do. So go see it. You will not be disappointed.

David, thanks a lot for sharing these informations with us.
This is really a great story and a big pleasure to read