It was fifty years ago today (May 16, 2013) that R.E. Salient (Saillant), Bert
Swift, and I (Richard G. Nickelson) placed the flotation collar on the Faith 7
Mercury capsule when it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Astronaut Gordon
Cooper had just completed a record 23 revolutions of the earth and brought his
capsule to within 4 miles of the recovery ship U.S.S. Kearsarge.
This was a remarkable feat when you consider that he had to do this manually
without the help of his computer or voice communication with the Cape, both had
failed during the flight, thus he had only his wrist watch to rely on. So
precise was the firing of the retro rockets that missing the exact timing by
one second meant the craft would land 100 miles away from the recovery ship.
Missing the mark by ten seconds would have caused Faith 7 to skip off of the
earth’s atmosphere into space never to be seen again.
The years I spent in the Teams were
definitely some of the best years of my life and the men I served with are the
most remarkable men I have ever known. It is hard to believe that all this
happened fifty years ago.
Your brother,
Nick Nickelson