The capsule, a remainder of the 1961 Mercury flight of astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, was located in May 1999 on the ocean floor. The current recovery expedition began in early July. The expedition team, working aboard the ship Ocean Project, confirmed Liberty 7's location today. Recovery of the capsule, using a remote-controlled submersible, is expected to occur within the next several days.

Liberty 7 was lost when Grissom splashed down following a 15-minute suborbital flight on July 21, 1961. Grissom nearly drowned when the capsule door unexpectedly blew open. Liberty 7 is the only manned spacecraft that was never recovered by NASA.

Underwater salvage expert Curt Newport is the leader of the recovery operation. Newport participated in the recovery of debris from the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and the 1996 crash of TWA flight 800.

Once the capsule is recovered, it will be transported to Cape Canaveral by sea and eventually put on public display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.