NASA's Unexplained Files

NASA's MISSION IS TO EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE

IS A TINY FRACTION OF WHAT'S ACTUALLY OUT THERE.

IN THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS,

IT LAUNCHES ITS SCIENTISTS INTO SPACE,

ITS CRAFT BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.

WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S OUT THERE.

THERE MIGHT BE DANGERS LURKING IN THE DARKNESS.

WE RUN ACROSS MORE MYSTERIES THAN DISCOVERIES.

WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S GONNA THROW AT US NEXT.

AN APOLLO ASTRONAUT DISCOVERS SOMETHING ASTONISHING

ON THE LUNAR SURFACE.

THIS IS RADICAL.

THIS WAS NOT EXPECTED.

THAT MEANS THERE COULD HAVE BEEN LIFE ON THE MOON.

A NASA SCIENTIST INVESTIGATES A DEADLY PHENOMENON

THAT THREATENS MILLIONS OF LIVES.

THERE ARE COUNTLESS DEAD BODIES STREWN ABOUT.

IT'S LIKE A SCENE FROM A HORROR MOVIE.

AND A RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT

MYSTERIOUSLY MALFUNCTIONS ON THE WAY TO MARS.

EVERYBODY IS PANICKING.

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS POINT FINGERS

AT THE UNITED STATES.

THESE ARE NASA's UNEXPLAINED FILES.

NASA's Unexplained Files - SEASON 5 EP - 7 - The Moon's Strange Secret

A LANDMARK NASA MISSION ENDS IN DISASTER.

BAM...

THE HATCH BLOWS OFF,

AND HIS SPACECRAFT STARTS FILLING WITH WATER.

HIS CRAFT IS SINKING TO THE SEA FLOOR,

AND IT'S GONNA DRAG HIM WITH IT.

THE INCIDENT THREATENS TO DESTROY

THE REPUTATION OF AN AMERICAN HERO.

THE MEDIA ABSOLUTELY CRUCIFIED HIM.

HE'S GONE FROM NATIONAL HERO TO SERIOUS LIABILITY.

MAY 1, 1999.

A TEAM OF SALVAGE EXPERTS EXPLORE THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

AT A DEPTH OF ALMOST 3 MILES.

EMERGING FROM THE DARKNESS...

A RUSTING SPACECRAFT,

PARTIALLY BURIED IN THE SEA BED.

IT'S WHAT THEY'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR.

THE ASTONISHING DISCOVERY SHEDS NEW LIGHT

ON ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING MYSTERIES OF SPACE FLIGHT.

THERE IS SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS SPACECRAFT.

THIS IS A TREASURE.

THE STORY BEGINS IN 1961.

20 A.M. ON JULY 21,

THE MERCURY-REDSTONE 4 ROCKET

BLASTS OFF FROM CAPE CANAVERAL.

FIVE MINUTES LATER, EX-AIR FORCE PILOT GUS GRISSOM

BECOMES THE THIRD HUMAN TO REACH SPACE.

GRISSOM'S CAPSULE, NICKNAMED LIBERTY BELL 7,

REACHES AN ALTITUDE OF 118 MILES.

AFTER JUST 5 MINUTES IN SPACE,

GRISSOM HAS TO BEGIN THE JOURNEY HOME.

THE SUBORBITAL FLIGHT ONLY LASTS 15 MINUTES,

AND HE SPLASHES DOWN PERFECTLY ON POINT

AT THE END OF THE MISSION.

YET WITHIN MINUTES,

LIBERTY BELL 7 SUFFERS A DANGEROUS MALFUNCTION.

BAM...

THE HATCH BLOWS OFF,

AND THE SPACECRAFT STARTS FILLING WITH WATER.

THE HATCH OPENS BEFORE RESCUE HELICOPTERS

CAN REACH THE DOWNED SPACECRAFT.

SEAWATER SURGES INTO THE STEEL CAPSULE.

HIS CRAFT IS SINKING TO THE SEAFLOOR,

AND IT'S GONNA DRAG HIM WITH IT.

GRISSOM HAS NO CHOICE

BUT TO ABANDON LIBERTY BELL 7.

HIS TROUBLES DON'T END

WHEN HE LEAVES THE CAPSULE.

THE PROBLEM IS, IN HIS HASTE

TO GET OUT OF THE SINKING SPACECRAFT,

HE LEFT HIS OXYGEN PORT OPEN ON HIS SUIT,

AND NOW THAT'S FILLING UP WITH WATER.

THE SEAS WERE JUST ROUGH ENOUGH

THAT WATER SPILLING OVER HIM WAS GOING IN HIS SUIT.

GRISSOM'S LEAKING SPACESUIT BEGINS TO DRAG HIM UNDER.

HE WAVES FRANTICALLY TO THE APPROACHING RESCUE CHOPPER,

BUT THE PILOT MISINTERPRETS HIS SIGNALS.

THE HELICOPTER PILOT

THINKS THAT HE'S TELLING HIM

TO SAVE THE SPACECRAFT WHEN, ACTUALLY,

HE'S TRYING TO TELL THE AIRCRAFT THAT HE'S DROWNING,

AS HIS SPACESUIT FILLS WITH WATER.

THE RECOVERY PILOT ATTEMPTS TO LIFT LIBERTY BELL

OUT OF THE OCEAN,

BUT THE WEIGHT OF THE FLOODED CAPSULE

DRAGS THE CHOPPER DOWN

TOWARDS THE WAVES.

THAT SPACECRAFT WAS JUST WAY TOO HEAVY FOR THEM,

AND THEY HAD TO RELEASE IT.

IN THE MEANTIME,

THEY'VE LEFT GUS OUT SWIMMING AROUND

OR TRYING TO STAY AFLOAT ON HIS OWN.

THE ASTRONAUT IS NOW DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO DROWNING.

HE CAN'T SWIM WITH THAT SUIT FULL OF WATER,

AND HE'S STARTING TO GET WATER IN HIS LUNGS.

I DON'T THINK ANYBODY REALIZED THE SERIOUSNESS OF IT

UNTIL THEY FINALLY LOST THE SPACECRAFT.

AND THEN THEY LOOKED AT GUS AND SAID, "OH, MY.

WE BETTER GET HIM QUICK."

45 A.M., THE RESCUE TEAM FINALLY

DRAGS GRISSOM FROM THE OCEAN.

ANOTHER 30 SECONDS, AND HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN GONE.

MERCURY PROGRAM ENGINEERS

LAUNCH AN INVESTIGATION

INTO THE DISASTER.

THE CRITICAL QUESTION IS,

WHO OR WHAT CAUSED THE HATCH TO BLOW?

SUSPICION FALLS ON GRISSOM HIMSELF.

MANY SUGGEST THAT UNDER PRESSURE,

GRISSOM PANICKED AND BLEW THE HATCH HIMSELF.

THE MEDIA GOT A HOLD OF THAT,

AND THEY ABSOLUTELY CRUCIFIED HIM

BECAUSE THEY SAID HE'D MADE A MISTAKE.

GRISSOM, WITH THE BACKING OF HIS NASA COLLEAGUES,

STRENUOUSLY DENIES ACCUSATIONS

THAT HE DETONATED THE EXPLOSIVE HATCH.

THE PROBLEM IS LIBERTY BELL 7

IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ATLANTIC,

AND THAT'S THE ONLY EVIDENCE THEY HAVE.

IN OCTOBER 1962,

GRISSOM'S FELLOW MERCURY ASTRONAUT, WALLY SCHIRRA,

STEPS IN TO HELP HIS FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE.

AT THE END OF HIS MERCURY ATLAS 8 FLIGHT,

SCHIRRA DELIBERATELY ACTIVATES THE EXPLOSIVE HATCH.

HE WALKS AWAY FROM THAT

WITH MASSIVE BRUISES ON HIS ARMS.

IT'S CLEAR PROOF THAT,

HAD GRISSOM DETONATED THE HATCH HIMSELF,

HE WOULD ALSO HAVE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

ON HIS BODY TO PROVE IT.

SCHIRRA'S ACTIONS APPEAR TO CLEAR GRISSOM,

BUT THE PRESENT PUBLIC REMAIN UNCONVINCED.

THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS VERY TROUBLING

TO GUS AND HIS COLLEAGUES.

THAT WAS A DIFFICULT TIME, I THINK, FOR NASA.

FOUR YEARS LATER,

THE MYSTERY TAKES A TRAGIC TURN.

IN JANUARY 1966,

NASA SELECTS GUS GRISSOM AS COMMAND PILOT

FOR THE FIRST APOLLO MISSION.

BUT DURING A LAUNCH REHEARSAL,

A FIRE BREAKS OUT WHILE GRISSOM AND HIS TWO CREWMATES

ARE SEALED INSIDE THE COMMAND MODULE.

WITHIN SECONDS,

AN INFERNO ENGULFS THE SPACECRAFT,

AND THE THREE ASTRONAUTS SUFFER HORRIFIC DEATHS.

IN A BITTER TWIST OF FATE,

INVESTIGATORS DISCOVER THAT A BADLY-DESIGNED HATCH

PREVENTED RESCUERS FROM REACHING THE TRAPPED ASTRONAUTS.

THE WAY THE HATCH WAS CONSTRUCTED IN APOLLO

WAS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST MISTAKE THEY MADE

BECAUSE THAT COST US THREE GUYS ON A PAD AT THE CAPE.

GRISSOM'S TRAGIC DEATH

REDUCES THE MYSTERY OF LIBERTY BELL'S HATCH

TO A FORGOTTEN FOOTNOTE OF SPACE HISTORY.

BUT IN 1999, THE MYSTERY RESURFACES

WHEN THE SALVAGE TEAM LOCATES LIBERTY BELL 7

AND PULLS IT FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR.

ANALYSIS OF THE HATCH REVEALS EVIDENCE

TO FINALLY VINDICATE GRISSOM

ALMOST FOUR DECADES AFTER HIS FATEFUL FLIGHT.

THEY FOUND THAT THE TITANIUM STRIP

THAT HOLDS THE HATCH IN PLACE

WAS WARPED SIGNIFICANTLY.

AND THAT INDICATES THAT THE HATCH

MAY HAVE BEEN DAMAGED WHEN IT LANDED

AND STRUCK THE OCEAN.

IT SHOWS THAT HE DIDN'T PANIC UNDER PRESSURE,

THAT HE DID THE RIGHT THING.

TODAY, GUS GRISSOM IS REMEMBERED AS A TRUE HERO,

A MAN WHO SACRIFICED HIS LIFE

IN THE QUEST TO PUT MANKIND ON THE MOON.

WHICH ASTRONAUT IN THE PROGRAM

WAS THE FIRST ONE TO FLY GEMINI?

GUS GRISSOM.

WHICH ASTRONAUT IN THE PROGRAM

WAS THE FIRST ONE SCHEDULED TO FLY IN APOLLO?

IT WAS GUS GRISSOM.

HE WAS THE BEST ONE IN THE BUSINESS.

COMING UP...

A NASA SCIENTIST INVESTIGATES THE STRANGE PHENOMENON

RESPONSIBLE FOR A SERIES OF MASS DEATHS.

THERE WAS NO SIGNS OF PANIC.

WHATEVER KILLED THESE PEOPLE

CREPT UP AND SURPRISED THEM.

AND THE KREMLIN ACCUSES FOREIGN POWERS

OF SABOTAGING A MISSION TO MARS.

SEVERAL TECHNICIANS IN THIS RUSSIAN SPACE PROGRAM

WERE THREATENED TO BE IMPRISONED.

A NASA SCIENTIST INVESTIGATES A SERIES

OF MYSTERIOUS MASS DEATHS.

IT'S LIKE A SCENE FROM A HORROR MOVIE.

THERE WAS NO SIGNS OF PANIC.

WHATEVER KILLED THESE PEOPLE