Grand Turk Mercury Exhibit

On my recent cruise through the Panama Canal I got off the ship to walk the stores at Grand Turk, the capital of the Caicos Islands.

Just above the line of palm trees I saw something that looked familiar.

This copy is from the Grand Turk Website:
Splashdown Grand Turk” is a 3,500-square-foot attraction celebrating the unique relationship of the American human spaceflight mission and its importance to Grand Turk’s history. Located on the south side of the Grand Turk Cruise Center, the free exhibit features amazing replicas unique to the Mercury space program, including a scaled 20-foot-tall Atlas rocket and a full-size, three-dimensional replica of astronaut John Glenn in spacesuit, and, of course, a detailed replica of the Friendship 7 capsule, which splashed into the Atlantic in 1962, a few short miles from the island of Grand Turk. Storyboards at the exhibit depict the accomplishments of the NASA space program and detail the differences in space equipment of yesterday and today while offering an overview of the current space program and future plans.

Aparently two of the Mercury flights splashed down near the island of Grand Turks -

MA-6 with John Glenn (2/20/62) and MA-7 with Scott Carpenter (5/24/62)

Both astronauts were brought back to Grand Turks for debriefing and medical checks after their flights.

 

 

The display doesn't seem to be as large as the advertised 3,500 square feet, that might include the small store selling NASA T-shirts and key chains. 

Still, a pleasant surprise and a good subject for a blog post.