Freedom 7 Mercury Capsule – Self-Righting Pool Toy

Freedom 7 at 1:24, the capsule that took the first American into space. It's also a pool toy: throw it in upside down and it rolls back upright on its own, just like the real one did after splashdown. What the real one did On 5 May 1961 Alan Shepard rode Freedom 7 to 187 km, hit 8,300 km/h and came down in the Atlantic 487 km from the pad, all in 15 minutes. He was also the first person to fly a spacecraft by hand: Gagarin's flight three weeks earlier ran on automatic, but Shepard took the stick and steered it himself. He pulled 11.6 g on the way down, stayed inside all the way to splashdown, and 45 million Americans watched it live. Twenty days later Kennedy told Congress the US was going to the Moon. When it hit the water it tipped over about 60° and then righted itself. Yours does the same. The model Built from NASA's Mercury drawings and matched to photos of the real capsule: shingles, rivets, the bolted hatch, portholes, raised lettering for a brush, and the open recovery compartment on top, the way the helicopter found it. The float chamber is built in, so there's nothing to add. Print it and throw it in the pool. What you need

- About 80 g of PLA. Pick black and the body needs no paint.

- A 0.2 mm nozzle for the finest detail. A 0.4 mm works too.

- No other parts. No screws, no glue, no weights: it's one piece and the float chamber is printed in.

- For painting (optional): acrylic white, black, dark blue and gunmetal, plus brown and cream for the extras. Gloss varnish or UV resin for the portholes, clear water-based polyurethane to seal it, a fine detail brush and an old flat brush for dry-brushing.

Print settings

- One piece, standing on the heat shield. No supports, no brim. Fits the A1 mini.

- 100 % infill. The hollow is already in the model, so don't add a modifier.

- 0.2 mm nozzle at 0.10 mm layers for full detail (about 9 h 20 min, 80 g). A 0.4 mm nozzle works too, with softer detail.

- PLA. Print it in black and the body needs no paint.

The painting guide is in the pictures. Keep it light, under 6 g of paint and varnish, so it still flips. Want the rocket too? I've also built the Mercury-Redstone that launched it, as a 1:48 kit that prints without an AMS: Mercury-Redstone 1:48 Kit, No AMS. Note that it's a different scale, so this capsule won't sit on top of it.

Next up: Liberty Bell 7 Ten weeks later Gus Grissom flew the next capsule. Right after splashdown the hatch blew off, it filled with water and sank almost 5 km to the bottom of the Atlantic. It lay there for 38 years until it was brought back up in 1999. I'm working on that one now. Follow me so you don't miss it. Print one? Post a Make, I'd love to see your splashdown. Photos of the real capsule: NASA