Secret treasure map plotted in space could unearth riches worth billions
Darrell Miklos will journey to the depths of the Caribbean in the hunt for treasures he hopes could be worth billions of dollars. Miklos will be guided by a map drafted in space by Gordon Cooper, one of NASA’s first astronauts.
Cooper, a close friend of Miklos, was one of NASA’s first astronauts and a record breaker. He logged 222 hours in space, piloting the last and longest of the Mercury missions in 1963. While on that mission he orbited the globe a total of 22 times, during which he took thousands of photographs of the surface of the earth.
As far as the public was concerned, Cooper’s purpose for the mission was to study the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body. The true purpose of his mission, however, was to scan the earth, taking photographs of possible Soviet nuclear missile sites near the United States.
Explore archival photos of Gordon Cooper, the man behind the @CoopersTreasure map from space >> https://t.co/5dp9uRAFP5pic.twitter.com/RiykTqa5Pj
— Discovery (@Discovery) April 17, 2017
These photographs form the basis of his ‘space treasure map,’ which Miklos hopes will lead him to sunken treasure. This journey is now the subject of the new documentary series ‘Cooper’s Treasure,’ which airs on the Discovery Channel from Tuesday.
2 More Days until the PREMIERE of #CoopersTreasure! pic.twitter.com/iibEGdUPiu
— Coopers Treasure (@CoopersTreasure) April 16, 2017
During his time in space Cooper, who passed away in 2004, discovered anomalies that he believed were shipwrecks. Once he returned to earth, Cooper began the arduous task of cross-referencing his anomalies with ship manifests, captains’ diaries and other historical information to create his space treasure map.
‘Sun goes down, lights of human activity shine bright’: NASA releases stunning global map of Earth at night https://t.co/bMRYukzbWGpic.twitter.com/1U8ZmeO7ED
— RT (@RT_com) April 13, 2017
Cooper died before he could explore any of the sites but passed the map on to his close friend, Miklos, in the hope that the professional treasure hunter would prove his theory correct. If this is the case, the treasure could be worth billions of dollars, not that Miklos will be able to keep it if he does succeed in finding it.
“I don’t get to keep it. I’m not doing this just for the treasure hunt,” Miklos said, according to Nerdist. “I get to pay homage to a hero whom I considered to be my surrogate father; I get to tell a story and finish a project or several projects that we were never able to finish together.”
