posted 07-04-2019 10:21 AM               

See the complete album here.

The photos are not sharp enough to read the watches well, that could give us an exact time. Perhaps with some imagination and comparison of different watches we can come close.

If you want to give it a shot, I can provide raw scans that got a higher dynamic range, useful on the bright watch faces. Huge files though, without redcast correction.

posted 07-05-2019 05:59 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by apollo16uvc:
Photos taken by a crew member onboard the USS Kearsarge...

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posted 07-08-2019 11:40 AM               

These slides were taken by Jack, who was a Navy Lieutenant at the time the photos were taken. He had several tours in Japan prior to this and bought a camera there to pursued that as a hobby. I have been talking with the seller, Jack's son.

On photo 4, Jack is leaning against Hg8.

Here is part of a memoir written by his wife:

I got up at 5:00 o' clock on Wednesday, October 3, to watch the launching from Cape Canaveral of the Mercury-Atlas 8 with Astronaut Wally Schirra.

It was the fifth United States man mission. It was so exciting! I had the radio on all day with reports. He made six orbits taking about nine hours.

I was able to see the pickup on TV in the late afternoon.

Jack's squadron had put in many hours of training in case the capsule didn't land where it was planned to come down.

However it was a perfect landing and came down near the USS Kearsarge. Jack took movies of the capsule floating down, and Schirra being helped out into the lifeboat by a couple of SEALS.

When the lifeboat came near the ship, there was much cheering and applause from the ship's crew.

Wally Schirra was first off the boat and was given a royal welcome.

Soon he was off to sick bay to be carefully checked by the doctors. He received a call from his wife and one from President Kennedy. What a thrilling day!

This next day was just as exciting for Jack because he had to honor to fly to Midway Island to pick up Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter, a close friend of Wally Schirra.

Jack was back with his passenger in less than three hours. Scott Carpenter had been on the previous launch into space. The astronauts had dinner with the Captain.

Because there was no admiral on the ship, Wally and Scott were given the Admiral's stateroom.

posted 07-09-2019 02:30 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim_Voce:
Regarding the antenna canister (nose cone) of Sigma 7 that appears in one of the pictures, how did they recover it?

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The antenna cover remains with the drogue chute, acting as a parachute for the cover.

Page 386 of "This New Ocean" reads that the MR-4 spacecraft antenna cover had "Balsa wood blocks and Styrofoam had been attached to these components for flotation." The MA-8 spacecraft may have had similar.

posted 07-09-2019 08:23 AM               

Jack took movies of the capsule floating down, and Schirra being helped out into the lifeboat by a couple of SEALS.

posted 09-11-2019 06:59 AM               

I plan on having this digitized in full HD and published on YouTube.

posted 01-08-2020 01:13 PM               

JFK started the Naval Special Warfare branch that ended the UDT units and created what became the SEAL teams for unconventional and asymmetric combat. Most if not all of the UDT/SEAL 1 and 2 teams that participated in spacecraft recovery, also served in combat during their rotations and various deployments.