When they showed preparations for the first suborbital flight they showed a shot of the map in mission control with three orbits plotted on the screen.
When they played (I think Shepard's) return, they subtitled his radio transmissions. He said the chute is unreefed and the subtitle was unleashed.
Great show anyway.
Didn't I hear a few years ago that they located Grissoms Mercury capsule?
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You can catch parts one and two on Discovery on Demand.
shareYes, they recovered it in 1999. That was another great discovery channel special. I actually bought that one from the website on vhs. it's on permenant display in kansas
shareWhen they recovered the capsule, they did not find the hatch. Any indications were inconclusive as to whether Gus blew the hatch or not. My opinion is that he was a professional and would not have blown it himself.
shareAnother significant error -- something that really surprised me.
In the broadcast, they indicated that the Gemini 6/7 rendezvous mission (December 1965) was an original plan -- not true.
Gemini 6 was orginally planned to make the first oribital rendezvous and docking in October '65, but the target Agena stage failed to reach orbit, so the launch was scrubbed. Gemini 7 had already been planned as a long-duration (14 days in orbit -- more than double the record at the time). It wasn't decided until early November to attempt a double flight/rendezvous.
Part of this was political -- the Soviets had launched double flights twice (Vostok 3/4 and Vostok 5/6) -- but these craft never came closer that 3 miles from each other. The idea of two manned spacecraft 'flying in formation' was a way to trump the Soviets' lead in space firsts.
That being said, I'm pleased with the overall production -- just miffed at all the commercials (a selling point for the DVD?) and the sometimes irratic sequencing.
If you can read this, thank a teacher
When they played (I think Shepard's) return, they subtitled his radio transmissions. He said the chute is unreefed and the subtitle was unleashed.