It was just a few years ago that the space capsule that sunk in the ocean flown by Gus Grissom was found and recovered. (For reference see the movie "The Right Stuff") Pretty amazing.
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A non-related space race story to tell you all: My dad worked for McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis in the mid 60s to early 70s. The astronauts came to St. Louis to train with fighter jets. My dad, in the course of his work, met and got to personally know and become friends with some of them. He got all their autographs for me and my brother, including the Apollo 11 astronauts. When Gus Grissom and his collegues died in the 1960s launch pad fire in a capsule, my dad was in mourning, as he and Gus were pals. I remember a time when Skylab was being developed. I got off from school early one day and my dad took me to a McDonnell-Douglas facility in St. Charles to pick up some classified equipment for delivery to one of the Hazelwood facilities. I had to stay in the car while dad went inside because it was a restricted area. When he came out, he had a little ziplock bag with a few circuits and some wiring in it. It did not impress me. Dad told me to pick up the bag and look at it, so I did. Again, I was not impressed. Dad says to me to take a better look at it, 'cause that was a part of Skylab, and would be going out into space. I WAS IMPRESSED! When my family moved from the St. Louis area to Southeast Missouri about 1973, all those astronaut autographs...including Neal Armstrong (first man to walk on moon) were kept in a utility drawer in our kitchen. While cleaning up to move, they ALL GOT TOSSED IN THE TRASH! True story.
