Scott Carpenter Pioneered Exploration in Space and the Seas

May 27, 2022

"The sunrises and sunsets were the most beautiful and spectacular events of the flight," said Scott Carpenter who photographed the orbital sunset aboard the Aurora 7 during his Mercury-Atlas-7 spaceflight. — “The sunrises and sunsets were the most beautiful and spectacular events of the flight,” said Scott Carpenter who photographed the orbital sunset aboard the Aurora 7 during his Mercury-Atlas-7 spaceflight. Photo credit: NASA

Project Mercury: America’s First Step in Space – Part 4

By Bob Granath

As the second American to orbit the Earth and one of the Original 7 Mercury astronauts, Scott Carpenter was an icon of NASA’s early efforts to explore the new frontier of space. The goal of his Mercury Atlas-7 flight was to help confirm humans could not only survive in the weightless environment of space, but also do useful work there. The lessons learned included a reminder that spaceflight was far more dangerous than a daily commute to work.

*NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit the Earth. Photo credit: NASA*

Carpenter was born in Boulder, Colorado, May 1, 1925, and he grew up on the city’s Aurora Ave. He earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Colorado in 1949. After being commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, he was designated a naval aviator in April 1951.

*Scott Carpenter is assisted into his pressure suit in the crew quarters of Hanger S at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the morning of the flight of Mercury Atlas 7. Photo credit NASA*

During the Korean War, Carpenter flew missions in the area of the Yellow Sea, the Formosa Straits and South China Sea. He later attended the Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, and, in 1954, was assigned to the Electronics Test Division of the Naval Air Test Center.

Carpenter was selected as one of the Mercury astronauts in April 1959. Along with his six colleagues, he underwent intensive training for what then was unknown — whether or not humans could endure space travel.

Following the sub-orbital flights of Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, as well asJohn Glenn’s mission to orbit the Earth, Carpenter was assigned to Mercury Atlas-7, also slated for three circuits of the globe.

Aurora 7

*Astronaut Scott Carpenter leaves the crew quarters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Hangar S for the trip to Launch Complex 14. Photo credit: NASA*

Launched May 24, 1962, Carpenter lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 14 aboard a spacecraft he named Aurora 7. Like Glenn, his rocket was the Atlas, a modified intercontinental ballistic missile and it put Carpenter’s Aurora 7 in a near-perfect orbit.

“I feel the liftoff, the clock has started,” Carpenter said to Grissom serving as capsule communicator, also known as capcom, in Mercury Control.

Carpenter described the initial seconds of being in space five minutes after liftoff.

*Scott Carpenter climbs aboard his Aurora 7 spacecraft for the Mercury Atlas 7 mission on May 24, 1962. Photo credit: NASA*

“The best cues to the end of powered flight were weightlessness and absolute silence,” he said. “(Weightlessness) was very pleasant, a great freedom and I adapted to it quickly.”

Because of confidence gained by Glenn’s successful mission, Carpenter’s fight plan not only included continued tests of the Mercury spacecraft, but also involved a number of scientific experiments and frequent reports of biological data to flight surgeons in Mercury Control. He also maneuvered the spacecraft frequently for observations of Earth and stars during his four hour, 54 minute flight.

Carpenter studied how liquids behave in weightlessness and conducted observations of the airglow layer of the atmosphere. He photographed terrestrial features and gave a vivid description of his observations.

*Scott Carpenter is inside his Aurora 7 spacecraft before the launch of the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission on May 24, 1962. Photo credit: NASA*

“The sunrises and sunsets were the most beautiful and spectacular events of the flight,” he said. “Unlike those on Earth, the sunrises and sunsets in orbit were the same. The sharply defined bands of color at the horizon were brilliant.”

Carpenter also was the first to sample condensed food in squeeze containers specially prepared for the flight. It was part of an effort to confirm astronauts could perform routine tasks associated with living and working in space.

“I can verify that eating bite-sized food we packaged for this flight is no problem at all,” he said. “Even the crumbly foods are eaten with no problem.”

Mystery Solved

Another discovery of the flight of Aurora 7 was resolution of the mystery of Glenn’s “fireflies.” During America’s first orbital flight, Glenn reported what appeared to be small luminous participles surrounding his spacecraft that looked like lightning bugs.

"Lift-off was unmistakable," said Scott Carpenter who was boosted to space atop an Atlas rocket at 7:45 a.m. EST on May 24, 1962 for his three-orbit flight. — *“Lift-off was unmistakable,” said Scott Carpenter who was boosted to space atop an Atlas rocket at 7:45 a.m. EST on May 24, 1962 for his three-orbit flight. Photo credit: NASA*

“I have the fireflies,” Carpenter said. “They are very bright.”

He reported the phenomenon occurred when the attitude control and stabilization system, or ASCS, thrusters fired, vibrating the capsule. The Mercury spacecraft was equipped with the ASCS allowing astronauts to adjust the way the capsule was pointed. With a hand controller, he could change the pitch, yaw and roll. It also was designed to keep the spacecraft stabilized in one direction.

“A number of times during the flight, I observed the particles reported by John Glenn,” Carpenter said. “They appeared to be like snowflakes. I believed that they reflected sunlight and were not truly luminous.”

As Carpenter reached for an instrument at dawn on the third orbit he inadvertently hit the wall of the capsule and a cloud of particles flew by the window.

*Numerous photographs of the Earth were taken during the Mercury-7 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Scott Carpenter*

The “fireflies” turned out to be particles of ice and frost that accumulated on the spacecraft’s exterior when moisture-laden air was vented.

However, Carpenter’s maneuvering for observations, setting up photographs and solving the “firefly” mystery used fuel at an alarming rate.

“Start to conserve your fuel,” warned fellow astronaut Gordon Cooper, the capcom at the Guaymas, Mexico tracking station.

Additionally, while most his systems worked well during the flight of Aurora 7, the pitch horizon scanner malfunctioned at retrofire. Additionally, firing of the capsule’s retrorockets was delayed.

“Although retro sequence came on time, the initiation of retrofire was slightly late,” Carpenter said. “After receiving a countdown to retrofire from the California (tracking station) capcom, I waited two seconds and then punched the manual retrofire button. About one second after that, I felt the first retrorocket fire.”

After splashing down about 250 miles past his targeted landing point, Scott Carpenter is hoisted aboard a Navy helicopter which few him to the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. Recovery crews attached a flotation collar around the spacecraft to await pickup by the destroyer USS Pierce. Photo credit: NASA

In Mercury Flight Director Chris Kraft’s 2001 book, Flight, he described the perilous re-entry.

Due to the lack of fuel, “It was a wild ride,” he said. “The last of the auto(matic steering) fuel ran out and oscillations got worse.”

The concern was that the spacecraft might start tumbling without fuel to control the oscillations. This would have made the parachutes useless.

“Finally he deployed the main parachute just below 10,000 feet,” Kraft said. “It bellowed open and the final descent was normal.”

Due to Carpenter’s delay in firing the retrorockets, Aurora 7 splashed down about 250 miles downrange of the targeted location. After a 40-minute search, a recovery aircraft spotted the astronaut in a raft next to his capsule. A Navy helicopter soon picked him up for a trip to the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. The destroyer USS John R. Pierce recovered the Aurora 7 spacecraft.

“Overall, I believe the Mercury Atlas-7 flight can be considered another successful step on the road to the development of a useful and reliable manned spacecraft system,” Carpenter said after the flight.

Scott Carpenter’s wife, Rene, responds to questions from the news media at Cocoa Beach, Florida on May 26, 1962, two days after the landing of Aurora 7. With her are the Carpenter children, from the left, Jay, Kristy, Candy and Scott. Photo credit: NASA

An Astronaut’s Wife

Like all the Mercury astronaut’s wives, Rene Carpenter was inundated with requests for news media interviews. Not long after the flight of Aurora 7, she was asked if she was concerned while rescue teams searched for her husband.

*Following his three-orbit flight, Scott Carpenter talks to the crew of his recovery helicopter during the trip to the USS Intrepid. Photo credit: NASA*

“I wasn’t nervous,” she said. “It was a great day. I loved every minute of it. I couldn’t wait to write it down when it was over.”

In fact, Rene Carpenter wrote an article for LIFE magazine about the experience. In it, she revealed her feelings during the post-splashdown search. The article was titled “55 Minutes That Lasted Forever.”

At a Cocoa Beach, Florida, news conference after her husband’s return, she provided an idea of what astronaut wives were really like.

“That glimpse you get of the woman in front of the house is such an innocuous, brief thing,” she said. “Every woman has her own identity. She’s not just the ‘apple pie’ thing waiting back home.”

Rene Carpenter was among the first to become more at ease speaking to reporters. She once described a stereotypical interview Americans were getting used to seeing when an astronaut’s wife is questioned following a space mission.

“Then the interviewer says, ‘Oh, I want to introduce you to the lovely, photogenic family of Commander Westlake,’” she said mocking typical reporters.

Scott Carpenter is welcomed aboard the recovery aircraft carrier, USS Intrepid, following his Earth-orbital mission. — *Scott Carpenter is welcomed aboard the recove*ry aircraft carrier, USS Intrepid, following his Earth-orbital mission. Photo credit: NASA

Reporter: “Mrs. Westlake were you happy, thrilled and proud?”

Astronaut’s wife: “Yes, I guess I was.”

Reporter: “And this is your little boy, Dickey. Dickey, do you want to be an astronaut when you grow up?”

Astronaut’s son: “I guess I do.”

Reporter: “And this is his little sister, Mary. And Mary what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Astronaut’s daughter: “Well, I guess I just want to grow up.”

Reporter: “Isn’t that thrilling. Well you’ve heard from the lovely family of our astronaut.”

After the Carpenters divorced ten years after the fight of Aurora 7, Washington Post publisher, Kay Graham, invited Rene Carpenter to develop and host the television show Everywoman. It aired on the Washington D.C. CBS affiliate, WTOP, on Saturday nights from 1972 to 1976.

Man-in-the-Sea

In addition to being one of America’s first space explorers, Carpenter also held the distinction of being an aquanaut, participating in the U.S. Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea Project. During the summer of 1965, he took a leave of absence from NASA to join the SEALAB II program off the coast of La Jolla, California.

*Astronaut Scott Carpenter receives a congratulatory telephone call from President John F. Kennedy via radio-telephone from aboard the USS Intrepid. Photo credit: NASA*

As part of the 45-day experiment, Carpenter spent 30 days living and working on the ocean floor. During that time, he spoke directly with astronauts Cooper and Pete Conrad during the eight-day Gemini V mission in August 1965.

Carpenter returned to NASA as executive assistant to the director of NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center (now Johnson Space Center) in Houston and was active in underwater crew training for spacewalks and the design of the Apollo lunar module.

In 1967, Carpenter returned to the Navy’s Deep Submergence Systems Project as director of Aquanaut Operations during the SEALAB III experiment. After retirement from the Navy two years later, Carpenter founded and was chief executive officer of Sea Sciences, Inc. It was a corporation active in developing programs aimed at enhanced utilization of ocean resources and improved health of Earth. In pursuit of these and other objectives, he worked closely with the French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

A frequent visitor to Florida’s Space Coast, Carpenter was a charter member of the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. His trips to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center included the February 2012 celebration of the 50th anniversary of America’s first orbital space flights.

“It is a special pleasure to go back to where the times were so magical,” Carpenter said during activities at Kennedy’s Visitor Complex.

Lifelong friends Scott Carpenter, left, and John Glenn pose at the Kennedy Visitor Complex in front of a Mercury spacecraft used in an early, unpiloted flight test. They were on hand to participate in celebrations for the 50th anniversary of their orbital flights. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Carpenter emphasized that the entire Project Mercury team at NASA centers and contractors around the nation made the program successful.

“It was not a solo effort,” Carpenter said. “It took thousands of people to get (us) safely up there and back.”

Carpenter died Oct. 11, 2013, at the age of 88 from complications following a stroke. He had been living in Vail, Colorado.

Before his own trip into space, Carpenter served as backup for Glenn’s flight. As the capcom in the Launch Complex 14 blockhouse, Carpenter wished his close friend a safe mission.

“Godspeed, John Glenn,” he said seconds before liftoff.

In a statement following Carpenter’s passing, the last remaining member of the Original 7 responded similarly.

“Godspeed, Scott Carpenter, a great friend,” said Glenn. “You are missed.”

“As one of the Original Mercury 7 astronauts, Carpenter was in the first vanguard of our space program,” said former Space Shuttle astronaut Charlie Bolden, NASA’s administrator at the time. “He was one of “the pioneers who set the tone for our nation’s pioneering efforts beyond Earth and accomplished so much for our nation.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of feature articles marking the 60th anniversary of Project Mercury. Beginning with test flights in 1959 and culminating in America’s first human orbital space missions, the program proved astronauts could be launched into space, perform useful work and safely return. In October 2022, read about America’s third orbital spaceflight.