Astronaut Gus Grissom inside the Liberty Bell 7.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of NASA

It's Time to Clean the Liberty Bell!
News story originally written on 11/11/99

The Liberty Bell 7 is getting a bath! It was found deep in the Atlantic Ocean this past summer. It sank there in 1961. Astronaut Gus Grissom flew it, and he got out before it sank.

The spacecraft has 25,000 pieces, and each one is getting cleaned! Scientists say it will take 6 months before it is all done. People can watch scientists clean the capsule at the Cosmophere in Kansas.

Lots of neat things were found inside the spacecraft too. A pencil and paper were inside a pouch, and old pennies were all over the floor. Scientists also found the cap to the door that blew off. The door came off too soon, causing the Liberty Bell to sink.

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