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Commander M. Scott Carpenter
“The first to be at once oceanaut and astronaut whose vision informs his courage to reach beneath the water and beyond the air” —from Diver of the Year award, 1997
Scott Carpenter’s American life has been marked by adventure, service, investigation, and exploration. From a Colorado boyhood spent dreaming of airplanes in the years leading up to World War II, Carpenter has flown in wartime skies over Korea, flight-tested new aircraft at NAS Patuxent River during the cold war, left earth’s atmosphere to travel in space, and led expeditions to the bottom of the sea. His pursuit of knowledge and understanding and his devotion to duty and country have made him a naval aviator and aquanaut of the first order, and a member of the most exclusive fraternity of all—the Project Mercury astronauts. Entering the service during World War II as a naval aviation cadet, Carpenter was commissioned as an ensign in 1949 by the United States Navy. He received flight training at Pensacola, Fla., and Corpus Christi, Texas, and was designated an aviator in April 1951. He then attended the Fleet Airborne Electronics School in San Diego, Calif. In November 1951, he was assigned to Patrol Squadron 6, home based at Barber’s Point, Hawaii. During the Korean conflict, he flew anti-submarine patrol, shipping surveillance, and aerial mining activities in the Yellow Sea, South China Sea, and the Formosa Straits. In 1954 he entered the Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center (NATC), at N.A.S. Patuxent River, Maryland. After completion of his training in 1955, Carpenter was assigned to the Electronics Test Division of the NATC, where he conducted flight test projects in the A3D, F11F, and F9F and assisted in other flight test programs. He flew tests in a variety of aircraft including multi- and single-engine jet aircraft, propeller-driven fighters, attack planes, patrol bombers, and seaplanes. Following his tour at Patuxent, Carpenter reported for ten months to the U.S. Navy’s General Line School at Monterey, Calif., and then attended the Naval Air Intelligence School, Washington, D.C. He received orders in August 1958 to report to the USS Hornet as air intelligence officer. Yet in late January 1959 Carpenter was handed orders from the Chief of Naval Operations to report to the Pentagon for a secret project. He was ordered not to discuss or speculate about his orders. On his flight to Washington National Airport two days later, Carpenter read all about it in Time magazine. Chosen in April 1959 as a Project Mercury astronaut, Carpenter was assigned to NASA’s Space Task Group at Langley Field, Virginia. He was assigned to work on communication, navigation, and navigational aids. He was named John H. Glenn’s alternate for the flight of Friendship 7, the United States’ first manned orbital flight, launched Feb. 20, 1962, and was designated the prime pilot for the follow-on mission (MA-7), which flew on May 24, 1962. He named his craft Aurora 7, after the goddess of the dawn, noting that Project Mercury represented the dawn of the space age, which would bring light and knowledge to the world. During his flight, Carpenter reached a maximum altitude of 164 miles, attained an orbital velocity of 17,532 miles per hour, circumnavigated the planet three times, and conducted several engineering and science experiments as well as observational tasks. At reentry, as his automatic control systems failed, he assumed manual control to produce a safe landing 1,000 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. Carpenter spent 4 hours, 53 minutes, and 47 seconds in flight. With the advent of the Apollo program of lunar expeditions, Carpenter was assigned the Lunar Excursion Module as his special responsibility. But a grounding injury to his arm—sustained in July 1964 while in Bermuda for the initial Sealab project (see below)—prevented Carpenter from participating as a flight-qualified astronaut on subsequent Gemini or Apollo missions. Drawing on his underwater experience, Carpenter worked with future moonwalker Buzz Aldrin to develop EVA techniques that led to the first successful and extended spacewalks, during the Gemini 12 mission. Underwater training is used today to prepare astronauts for EVA work. Throughout the 1960s Carpenter took frequent leave from NASA to return to his parent U.S. Navy command. In 1963 under the direction of saturation-diving visionary Capt. George F. Bond, the Navy was embarked on a pioneering experiment in underwater habitation called Sealab. Carpenter would go on to assist actively in the planning and conduct of the Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea program. He served as aquanaut and was team leader during the Sealab 2 experiment in 1965. During this mission he set a world record in underwater work, living for 30 consecutive days at a depth of 205 feet. At one point during Sealab 2, Carpenter participated in a conversation with fellow Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper orbiting the Earth in Gemini 5, the only instance in history of such a call. Carpenter was awarded the Navy’s Legion of Merit for his participation in this work. Carpenter resigned from NASA on August 3, 1967, and reported to the Bethesda, Maryland, headquarters for the navy’s Deep Submergence Systems Project (DSSP). There he assisted in preparations for Sealab 3, a 60-day experiment to be conducted in 1968 at depths of 600 feet. He retired from the U.S. Navy with the rank of Commander on July 1, 1969, after a 20-year career. In the 1970s Cmdr. Carpenter established Sea Sciences, Inc., an oceanographic research company, traveled as an international goodwill ambassador, served as a film consultant, and was involved in biological pest control and alternative fuels research. In the 1980s he returned to his boyhood home of Colorado, where he maintains a home with his wife, Patty. The Carpenters split their time between Vail and West Palm Beach. |
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