alt.hn

1/18/2026 at 11:51:21 AM

Project Mercury and the Sofar Bomb

https://www.thequantumcat.space/p/project-mercury-and-the-sofar-bomb

by verzali

1/23/2026 at 11:38:31 AM

Funny to see this article not too long after finishing The Right Stuff - a stellar book about Project Mercury. It's an interesting tidbit and I learned something new.

While it seems that the concept worked, more or less, on one occasion it didn't, and that turned out to be a good thing. In the only Mercury mission which resulted in the capsule sinking - the second one, with Gus Grissom - the capsule settled down at almost 5km deep, but the SOFAR bomb failed to detonate and thus Liberty Bell 7 could have been recovered in 1999.

by spaqin

1/23/2026 at 12:14:52 PM

> Why bombs where hidden

"were". I guess we know this isn't AI slop then?

by boxed