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Liberty Bell 7 coming to Children's Museum

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INDIANAPOLIS -- A piece of space travel history is on its way to Indiana.

The Liberty Bell 7 was loaded up in Kansas this week and is now bound for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

The capsule was part of Project Mercury on July 21, 1961. It eventually landed in the Atlantic Ocean and sank.

Recovered in 1999, it's been restored and traveled the world. Now, crews have loaded it up for a trip to the Hoosier state.

In addition to a lesson in space history, the capsule will also teach kids about Astronaut Gus Grissom – the pride of Mitchell, Indiana.

"He was the first to fly in space twice," said Ray Boomhower, of the Indiana Historical Society Press. "He's best known as the second American in space and the third human in space."

Boomhower literally wrote the boom on Grissom. He says everyone should take time to see the Liberty Bell 7 when its goes on display this summer.

"It's a cool moment, because it's a slice of American history," Boomhower said. "It's a slice of Indiana history. He's one of the most famous Hoosiers of all time. Gus Grissom, in a sense, is returning home. Of course, he gave his life for the American space program, dying in the Apollo I spacecraft fire in 1967 with his two fellow crewmates, but you're able to go back and get a sense of the excitement that gripped the United States when the American space program was in its infancy."

The display, titled "Beyond Spaceship Earth," will begin its three-year run on June 25.

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