CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, Gus Grissom's Mercury space capsule was reeled in Tuesday by an underwater salvage team and lifted aboard ship.
Among the items found inside: seven Mercury dimes the astronaut carried into space as souvenirs.The long-awaited recovery coincided with the 30th anniversary of man's first moon landing. And it was just one day shy of the 38th anniversary of Grissom's 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Liberty Bell 7.
"I'm quite relieved that the capsule came out of the water in one piece, and I'm anxious to get back to Florida," expedition leader Curt Newport said in a statement issued by the Discovery Channel, which financed the search.
Newport and his team were expected back at Port Canaveral, with Liberty Bell 7, on Wednesday.
The crew members set sail July 1 to pick up where they left off at the beginning of May, when they located the spacecraft in relatively good condition 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral. They had to leave it there, however, when the cable to their robotic recovery vessel snapped in rough seas.
The 7-foot titanium and aluminum capsule -- the only U.S. spacecraft lost following a successful mission -- had lain in water 3 miles deep since July 21, 1961. It was pulled to the surface by sturdy Kevlar cord.