Editing Scott Carpenter

{{Short description|American astronaut and aquanaut (1925–2013)}}
{{about|the astronaut}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox astronaut
|name          = Scott Carpenter
|image         = File:MalcolmScottCarpenter.jpg
|caption       = Carpenter in 1964
|birth_name    = Malcolm Scott Carpenter
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1925|5|1}}
|birth_place   = [[Boulder, Colorado]], U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|2013|10|10|1925|5|1}}
|death_place   = [[Denver, Colorado]], U.S.
|spouse        = {{marriage|[[Rene Carpenter]]|1948|1972|end=div.}}
|education     = [[University of Colorado, Boulder]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])
|awards        = [[Legion of Merit]]<br>[[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]]<br>[[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]]
|type          = [[NASA astronaut]]
|rank          = [[Commander (United States)|Commander]], [[United States Navy|USN]]
|time          = 4h 56m
|selection     = [[Mercury Seven|NASA Group 1 (1959)]]
|mission       = [[Mercury-Atlas 7]]
|insignia      = [[File:Aurora 7 patch.png|50px]]
|retirement    = August 10, 1967
}}
'''Malcolm Scott Carpenter''' (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013) was an American [[United States Navy|naval officer]] and [[United States naval aviator|aviator]], [[test pilot]], [[aeronautical engineer]], [[astronaut]], and [[aquanaut]].  He was one of the [[Mercury Seven]] astronauts selected for [[NASA]]'s [[Project Mercury]] in April 1959. Carpenter was the second American (after [[John Glenn]]) to [[Orbital spaceflight|orbit the Earth]] and the fourth American in [[Outer space|space]], after [[Alan Shepard]], [[Gus Grissom]], and John Glenn.

Commissioned into the U.S. Navy in 1949, Carpenter became a naval aviator, flying a [[Lockheed P-2 Neptune]] with [[VP-6|Patrol Squadron 6]] (VP-6) on reconnaissance and [[anti-submarine warfare]] missions along the coasts of the [[Soviet Union]] and China during the [[Korean War]] and the [[Cold War]]. In 1954, he attended the [[United States Naval Test Pilot School|U.S. Naval Test Pilot School]] at [[NAS Patuxent River]], [[Maryland]], and became a test pilot. In 1958, he was named [[Air Intelligence Officer]] of {{USS|Hornet|CV-12|6}}, which was then in dry dock at the [[Bremerton Navy Yard]].

The following year, Carpenter was selected as one of the Mercury Seven astronauts. He was backup to Glenn during the latter's [[Mercury Atlas 6]] orbital mission. Carpenter flew the next mission, [[Mercury Atlas 7]], in the spacecraft he named ''[[Aurora 7]]''. Due to a series of malfunctions, the spacecraft landed {{convert|250|mi|km|sigfig=2}} downrange from its intended [[splashdown]] point, but both pilot and spacecraft were retrieved.

In 1964, Carpenter obtained permission from NASA to take a leave of absence to join the U.S. Navy [[SEALAB]] project as an aquanaut. During training he suffered injuries that grounded him, making him unavailable for further spaceflights. In 1965, he spent 28 days living on the ocean floor off the coast of California as part of SEALAB II. He returned to NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center|Manned Spacecraft Center]], then joined the Navy's [[Deep Submergence Systems Project]] in 1967 as Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III. He retired from NASA in 1967 and the Navy in 1969, with the rank of [[commander (United States)|commander]].

Carpenter became a consultant to sport and diving manufacturers, and to the film industry on space flight and oceanography. He gave talks and appeared in television documentaries. He was involved in projects related to biological pest control and waste disposal, and for the production of energy from industrial and agricultural wastes. He appeared in television commercials and wrote a pair of technothrillers and an autobiography, ''For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut'', co-written with his daughter, Kristen Stoever.

==Early life==
Malcolm Scott Carpenter was born on May 1, 1925, in [[Boulder, Colorado]],{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=325}} the son of Marion Scott Carpenter (1901–1973), a research chemist, and Florence Kelso ({{nee}} Noxon, known in her family as "Toye"; 1900–1962). Carpenter, known in his childhood as Bud or Buddy, moved with his parents to [[New York City]], where his father had been awarded a postdoctoral research post at [[Columbia University]], in 1925.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=10–11}}

In the summer of 1927, Carpenter's mother, who was ill with [[tuberculosis]], returned to Boulder, taking him with her. (In those days, mountain air was believed to aid recovery). Her condition deteriorated, and she entered the Mesa Vista Sanatorium in 1930.  She recovered sufficiently to become chief medical librarian at [[Boulder Community Hospital]] in 1945. Carpenter's father remained in New York, but found it hard to find work during the [[Great Depression]]. Eventually his father secured a good position at [[Givaudan]]. Carpenter's parents divorced in 1945, and his father remarried.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=6–8, 42–44}}

Carpenter lived with his maternal grandparents in the family home at the corner of Aurora Avenue and Seventh Street.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=6–8, 42–44}} He later denied naming his spacecraft ''[[Aurora 7]]'' after Aurora Avenue.<ref>{{YouTube|id=iBslf6SV2RU&t=1m9s|title=Scott Carpenter JSC Oral History 1999}}</ref> He was educated at University Hill Elementary School in Boulder and [[Boulder High School]], where he played the [[clarinet]], was a [[cheerleader]], and served on the editorial board of the student newspaper.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=49}}{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=72–73}} He was a [[Scouts BSA (Boy Scouts of America)|Boy Scout]], and earned the rank of [[Second Class (Boy Scouts of America)|Second Class Scout]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-558.pdf |title=Astronauts and the BSA |website=scouting.org |access-date=December 26, 2018 |archive-date=June 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622104220/http://www.scouting.org/FILESTORE/pdf/02-558.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Naval service==
Like many teenagers in Boulder, Carpenter was deeply affected by the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], which brought the United States into [[World War II]], and he resolved to become a [[naval aviator]].{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=71–75}} On February 12, 1943, he went to the [[U.S. Navy]]'s recruiting office at [[Lowry Field]] near [[Denver]] and applied to join the Navy's [[Aviation Cadet Training Program (USN)|V-5 Aviation Cadet Training Program]]. After obtaining his father's permission, he traveled to the headquarters of the [[12th Naval District]] in [[San Francisco]], where he passed physical and written examinations, and was accepted for training as an aviation cadet on April 11.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=76–77}}

The Navy had recruited plenty of potential aviators in the pipeline at this time, so to retain young men like Carpenter in the Navy, the [[V-12 Navy College Training Program]] was created, whereby cadets attended college until training positions became available. When Carpenter graduated from high school in 1943, he became a V-12A aviation cadet at [[Colorado College]] in [[Colorado Springs]]. Three semesters there were followed by six months of preflight training at [[Saint Mary's College of California]] in [[Moraga, California]], and primary flight training at [[Ottumwa, Iowa]], in a [[Stearman N2S]] for four months.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=78–85}}<ref name="selfbio">{{cite web|last1=Carpenter|first1=Scott|title=About Scott|url=http://www.scottcarpenter.com/about_scott.htm|publisher=Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter|access-date=December 27, 2016|date=May 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331140313/http://www.scottcarpenter.com/about_scott.htm |archive-date=March 31, 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=323}} The war ended before he finished training, so the Navy released him from active duty in September 1945.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=86–87}}

After visiting his father and stepmother in New York, Carpenter returned to Boulder in November 1945 to study [[aeronautical engineering]] at the [[University of Colorado Boulder|University of Colorado]]. He was given credit for his previous study, and entered as a [[Junior (education year)|junior]].{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=86–87}} While there he joined [[Delta Tau Delta]] International Fraternity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.delts.org/about/famousdelts.html |access-date=February 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515135404/http://delts.org/about/famousdelts.html |publisher=Delta Tau Delta |title=About Us |archive-date=May 15, 2010 }}</ref> He was severely injured in a car accident on September 14, 1946, after he fell asleep at the wheel of his [[1934 Ford]].  The car went over a cliff and overturned.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=89–90}} At the end of his senior year, he missed his final examination in [[heat transfer]]; a washed-out bridge prevented him from getting to class. This left him one requirement short of a degree.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=97}}{{efn|On May 29, 1962, after his Mercury spaceflight, the University of Colorado granted Carpenter his [[Bachelor of Science]] degree,<ref>{{cite news |title=Astronaut Gets Delayed Degree From His College |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=30 May 1962 |page=5 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/05/30/90167849.html?pageNumber=5 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref> on the grounds that "his subsequent training as an astronaut more than made up for the deficiency in the subject of heat transfer."{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=165}}}}

Carpenter met [[Rene Carpenter|Rene Louise Price]], a fellow student at the University of Colorado, where she studied history and music at the campus bookstore, where she worked part-time. She was a member of the [[Delta Delta Delta]] [[sorority]]. Her parents had also separated when she was young, and her mother too suffered from tuberculosis. They were married at St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder in September 1948.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=91–95}}

Plans to retake his heat transfer course were put aside when Carpenter was recruited by the Navy's Direct Procurement Program (DPP) as its 500th candidate. Through an oversight, the Navy assumed that he had earned his degree. He reported for duty on October 31, 1949, at [[Naval Air Station Pensacola]], [[Florida]], for pre-flight training. He graduated from pre-flight training on March 6, 1950, and then commenced primary flight training at [[Naval Air Station Whiting Field]], learning to fly in an [[North American T-6 Texan|SNJ]] trainer.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=97–100}} He then went on to [[Naval Air Station Corpus Christi]] for advanced training. Most newly-trained naval aviators—including Carpenter—aspired to fly jet fighters, but in view of his responsibilities as a husband and father (his first child was born on January 20, 1950, and Rene was pregnant with a second), he elected the less dangerous option of flying multi-engine patrol aircraft. Rene disagreed with this decision. His advanced training was in the [[Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer]], a single-tail version of the [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator]]. Rene pinned his [[United States Aviator Badge|aviator wings]] on him on April 19, 1951, signifying completion of his flight training.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=104–106}}

[[File:Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune in flight near NAS Patuxent River in 1954.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Lockheed P2V Neptune]] in flight near [[NAS Patuxent River]] in 1954]]
After three months at the Fleet Airborne Electronics Training School in [[San Diego, California]], Carpenter went to a [[P2V Neptune]] transitional training unit at [[Whidbey Island, Washington]],{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=325}} after which he was assigned to [[VP-6|Patrol Squadron 6]] (VP-6), based at [[Naval Air Station Barbers Point]], [[Hawaii]], in November 1951. On his first deployment, Carpenter flew on reconnaissance and [[anti-submarine warfare]] missions from [[Naval Air Station Atsugi]] in Japan during the [[Korean War]].{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=110–111}} The missions could be dangerous: on November 6, 1951, one of his squadron's aircraft was shot down over the [[Sea of Japan]] by two Soviet [[Lavochkin La-11]] fighters, with the loss of all ten crewmen on board.<ref>{{cite web |title=Asia: Sea of Japan |publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/cold-war/air-incidents/damage-usn-aircraft/asia-sea-of-japan.html |access-date=19 January 2025 |archive-date=January 20, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120175338/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/cold-war/air-incidents/damage-usn-aircraft/asia-sea-of-japan.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On his second deployment, forward-based at [[Naval Air Facility Adak]], [[Alaska]], he flew surveillance missions along the Soviet and Chinese coasts.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=118–119}} For his third and final deployment, he was based on [[Guam]], flying missions off the coast of China. He was designated as patrol plane commander, the only one in VP-6 with the rank of [[lieutenant (junior grade)]]—all the rest held higher rank.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=125–126}}

Impressed with his performance, the skipper of VP-6, Commander Guy Howard,{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=113}} recommended Carpenter's appointment to the [[United States Naval Test Pilot School|U.S. Naval Test Pilot School]].{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=128–130}} Carpenter was part of Class 13, at [[NAS Patuxent River]], [[Maryland]], in 1954. He flew aircraft such as the [[AD Skyraider]] and the [[Martin P4M Mercator]]. For the first time, he flew jets, including the [[F9F Panther]], [[F11F Tiger]] and [[A3D Skywarrior]].{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=134–138}} He remained at Patuxent River until 1957, working as a [[test pilot]] in the Electronics Test Division.<ref name="selfbio" />

Carpenter attended the [[Naval Postgraduate School|Navy General Line School]] in [[Monterey, California]], in 1957,<ref name="selfbio" /> and then the Naval Air Intelligence School at [[NAS Anacostia]] in [[Washington D.C.]]{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=156–157}} In 1958 he was named [[Air Intelligence Officer]] of {{USS|Hornet|CV-12|6}}, which was in dry dock at the [[Bremerton Navy Yard]].{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=160–162}}

==NASA career==
=== Mercury Seven ===
{{Main|Mercury Seven}}
[[File:The Mercury 7 (15258556433).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Mercury Seven]] astronauts. Front row, left to right, [[Wally Schirra]], [[Deke Slayton]], [[John Glenn]], and Carpenter; back row, [[Alan Shepard]], [[Gus Grissom]] and [[Gordon Cooper]]. ]]
On October 4, 1957, the [[Soviet Union]] launched [[Sputnik 1]], the first artificial [[satellite]]. This shattered Americans' confidence in their technological superiority, creating a wave of anxiety known as the [[Sputnik crisis]]. Among his responses, [[President of the United States|President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] launched the [[Space Race]]. The [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA) was established on October 1, 1958, as a civilian agency to develop space technology. One of its first initiatives was [[Project Mercury]],{{sfn|Burgess|2011|pp=25–29}} which aimed to launch a man into [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]], evaluate his capabilities in space, and return him safely to the Earth.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=134}}

The first [[astronaut]] intake was drawn from the ranks of military test pilots. The service records of 508 graduates of test pilot schools were obtained from the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]. Of these, 110 met the minimum standards:{{sfn|Atkinson|Shafritz|1985|pp=36–39}} the candidates had to be younger than 40, possess a bachelor's degree or equivalent and to be {{convert|5|ft|11|in}} or less. While these were not all strictly enforced, the height requirement was firm, owing to the size of the Project Mercury spacecraft.{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=35}} DPP was restricted to those with [[bachelor's degree]]s, so it was assumed that Carpenter had one.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=169–190}}

On February 2, 1959, the first 35 candidates went to [[The Pentagon]], where they met with the [[Chief of Naval Operations]], [[Admiral (United States)|Admiral]] [[Arleigh Burke]], and the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force]], [[General (United States)]] [[Thomas D. White]], who assured them that the services would support them if they volunteered to become astronauts, and that their professional progress and promotions would not be affected. The number of candidates was reduced to 32, which the NASA selection panel considered to be an adequate number from which to select 12 astronauts. The degree of interest also indicated that far fewer would drop out during training than anticipated, which would result in training astronauts who would not be required to fly Project Mercury missions. It was therefore decided to halve the number of astronauts.{{sfn|Atkinson|Shafritz|1985|pp=40–42}}
[[File:Visit of Scott Carpenter and his family to the White House.jpg|thumb|left|Carpenter and his family visit the [[White House]]. Left to right: [[Rene Carpenter|Rene]], President [[John F. Kennedy]], Kristen, Carpenter, Scott, Candace and Jay.]]

Then came a grueling series of physical and psychological tests at the [[Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute|Lovelace Clinic]] and the [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base|Wright Aerospace Medical Laboratory]].{{sfn|Atkinson|Shafritz|1985|pp=43–47}} Carpenter had the lowest body fat, scored highest on the treadmill and cycling tests, and was able to hold his breath the longest.{{sfn|Carpenter_et_al.|2010|pp=48–49}} This was despite the fact that he had smoked a pack of cigarettes a day since joining the Navy in 1943, and did not quit smoking until 1985.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=185–186}}

NASA's [[Charles J. Donlan]] called Carpenter's home on April 3, 1959, to inform him that he had been one of the seven men selected. Rene answered; Carpenter was on ''Hornet'', but she could reach him. Carpenter called Donlan from a wharfside pay phone to accept the offer, but ''Hornet''{{'s}} skipper, [[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]] Marshall W. White, refused to release him. Donlan called Burke, who contacted White and promised to send him another intelligence officer, but told him that the country needed Carpenter for the NASA assignment.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=194–195}}

The identities of the seven were announced at a press conference at [[Dolley Madison House]] in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1959:{{sfn|Burgess|2011|pp=274–275}} Carpenter, [[Gordon Cooper]], [[John Glenn]], [[Gus Grissom]], [[Wally Schirra]], [[Alan Shepard]], and [[Deke Slayton]].{{sfn|Atkinson|Shafritz|1985|pp=42–47}} The magnitude of the challenge ahead of them was made clear a few weeks later, on the night of May 18, 1959, when the seven astronauts gathered at [[Cape Canaveral]] to watch their first rocket launch, of an [[SM-65D Atlas]], which was similar to the one that would carry them into orbit. A few minutes after liftoff, it spectacularly exploded, lighting up the night sky. The astronauts were stunned. Shepard turned to Glenn and said: "Well, I'm glad they got that out of the way."{{sfn|Glenn|Taylor|1985|pp=274–275}}

===Mercury-Atlas 7===
{{Main|Mercury-Atlas 7}}
[[File:Carpenter suiting up.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Carpenter is assisted into his pressure suit in the crew quarters of Hangar S at [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]] on the morning of the flight of [[Mercury Atlas 7]].]]
====Mission====
Carpenter, along with the other six Mercury astronauts, participated in the development of the Mercury spacecraft.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=220–221}} Each had a specialty; Carpenter's was the onboard navigational equipment.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=237}}  He served as backup pilot on [[Mercury-Atlas 6]] for Glenn,{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=407}} who flew the first U.S. orbital mission aboard ''[[Friendship 7]]'' in February 1962. Carpenter, serving as [[Flight controller#Spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM)|capsule communicator]] on this flight, can be heard saying "Godspeed, John Glenn" on the recording of Glenn's liftoff.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=226}}

The next mission, a second manned orbital flight, was to be flown by Slayton in a spacecraft he would have named ''Delta 7'', but Slayton was suddenly grounded for an [[atrial fibrillation]].{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=238–240}} Carpenter was assigned to replace him instead of Slayton's backup, Schirra, as Carpenter had more training time in the simulators.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=440–443}} In contrast to Glenn's flight, [[Mercury-Atlas 7]] was planned as a scientific mission rather than an engineering one.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=443–445}}

After the most trouble-free countdown of Project Mercury to date, Carpenter flew into space on May 24, 1962, watched by 40 million television viewers.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=446–447}} He performed five onboard experiments per the flight plan,{{efn|Experiments were ground flare visibility; air glow observations; photography; zero-G liquid behavior; and a tethered inflatable balloon experiment.{{sfn|Ezell|1988|p=149}} }} and became the first American astronaut to eat solid food in space. He also identified the mysterious "fireflies" observed by Glenn during ''Friendship 7'' as particles of frozen liquid loosened from the outside of the spacecraft, which he could produce by rapping on the wall near the window. He renamed them "frostflies".{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=454–456}}

[[File:Carpenter aurora 7.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Carpenter is helped into his ''[[Aurora 7]]'' spacecraft on May 24, 1962.]]
Unnoticed by ground control or the  pilot, an overexpenditure of fuel was caused by an intermittently malfunctioning pitch horizon scanner (PHS). Still, NASA later reported that Carpenter had:
{{blockquote|exercised his manual controls with ease in a number of [required] spacecraft maneuvers and had made numerous and valuable observations in the interest of space science. ... By the time he drifted near Hawaii on the third pass, Carpenter had successfully maintained more than 40 percent of his fuel in both the automatic and the manual tanks. According to mission rules, this ought to be quite enough hydrogen peroxide, reckoned Kraft, to thrust the capsule into the retrofire attitude, hold it, and then to reenter the atmosphere using either the automatic or the manual control system.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=453}}}}

At the retrofire event, the PHS malfunctioned once more, forcing Carpenter to manually control his [[reentry]]. This caused him to overshoot the planned [[splashdown]] point in the Atlantic Ocean by {{convert|400|km|mi|order=flip|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Manned Spacecraft Center|1962|p=66}} The PHS malfunction yawed the spacecraft 25 degrees to the right, accounting for {{convert|170|mi|km|sigfig=2}} of overshoot; the delay caused by the automatic sequencer required Carpenter to fire the retrorockets manually. This effort took two pushes of the override button and accounted for another 15 to {{convert|20|mi|km|sigfig=1}} of overshoot. The thrusters had a set ignition sequence, and this sequence was delayed by Carpenter manually firing them. This added another {{convert|60|mi|km|sigfig=1}}, producing a {{convert|250|mi|km|sigfig=2|adj=on}} overshoot.{{sfn|Manned Spacecraft Center|1962|p=66}} Had Carpenter not assumed manual control, the overshoot would have been greater still.<ref>{{cite web |first=Ben |last=Evans |title="Lucky to be Alive": The Controversy of Aurora 7 |date=May 29, 2012 |publisher=AmericaSpace |url=https://www.americaspace.com/2012/05/29/lucky-to-be-alive-the-controversy-of-aurora-7/ |access-date=17 March 2025 |archive-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114040143/https://www.americaspace.com/2012/05/29/lucky-to-be-alive-the-controversy-of-aurora-7/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The spacecraft splashed down at 19°27'N, 63°59'W, about {{cvt|50|nmi}} north of [[Anegada]] in the [[British Virgin Islands]].{{sfn|Ezell|1988|p=146}} The flight lasted 4 hours and 56 minutes,{{sfn|Grimwood|1963|p=165}} during which  ''Aurora 7'' had attained a maximum altitude of {{convert|166|mi|km}} and an orbital velocity of {{convert|17532|mi/h|km/h}} and traveled {{convert|130933|km|mi|order=flip}}.{{sfn|Ezell|1988|p=146}}{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=454–456}}

====Recovery====
[[File:Mercury-7 landing.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Carpenter is plucked from the water]]
There was a great deal of public concern over whether Carpenter had survived. Broadcasting from a [[CBS]] news van in Florida, [[Walter Cronkite]] painted a grim picture. Although ''Aurora 7''{{'}}s Search And Rescue And Homing (SARAH) beacon broadcast its precise location, and the recovery vessels, the [[aircraft carrier]] {{USS|Intrepid|CV-11|6}} and the [[destroyer]] {{USS|John R. Pierce|DD-753|6}}, were on their way, NASA did not pass this information along to the news media.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=292–293}} Cronkite reported that "while thousands watch and pray, certainly here at Cape Canaveral, the silence is almost intolerable."<ref>{{cite web |first=Ben |last=Evans |title=Flight of the Aurora: Remembering the Mission of Scott Carpenter (Part 2) |date=May 24, 2015 |publisher=AmericaSpace |url=https://www.americaspace.com/2015/05/24/flight-of-the-aurora-remembering-the-mission-of-scott-carpenter-part-2/ |access-date=17 March 2025 |archive-date=November 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241106010407/https://www.americaspace.com/2015/05/24/flight-of-the-aurora-remembering-the-mission-of-scott-carpenter-part-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Knowing that the recovery vessels might take some time to get to him, and aware of the danger of ''Aurora 7'' foundering, as had happened to Grissom's ''[[Liberty Bell 7]]'', Carpenter made his way out through the neck of the spacecraft, something the less agile Glenn had been unable to do. He inflated his life raft, climbed into it, and awaited rescue. The sea around him was stained with green dye released to attract the rescue helicopter. The life raft had no radio.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=456–457}}

About 36 minutes after splashdown, Carpenter spotted two aircraft. A P2V Neptune from [[VP-18|Patrol Squadron 18]] flying out of [[Jacksonville Naval Air Station|Naval Air Station Jacksonville]] was the first to sight and mark Carpenter's position. It was followed by a [[Piper Apache]], which circled and photographed. Carpenter then knew he had been located.{{sfn|Roberts|2000|p=106}}{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=456–457}}<ref name="McDonald">{{cite journal |title=The recovery of 'Aurora' |last=McDonald |first=Gerald W. |journal=American Heritage |volume=52 |issue=2 |date=April 2001 |pages=107–111 |id={{ProQuest|202743992 }} }}</ref> They were followed by [[SC-54 Skymaster]] aircraft, one of which parachuted two frogmen, [[Airman First Class]] John F. Heitsch and [[Sergeant]] Ray McClure, while another dropped a flotation collar that the frogmen attached to ''Aurora 7''. A radio battery was dropped, but not the radio. An Air Force [[SA-16 Albatross]] arrived to collect them, but NASA Mission Control forbade it for fear that the seaplane might break up, although the crew did not consider the swell dangerous. After three hours, Carpenter was picked up by a [[HSS-2 Sea King]] helicopter, which took him to ''Intrepid'', while ''Aurora 7'' was recovered by ''John R. Pierce''.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=456–457}}<ref name="McDonald" />

====Postflight====
Postflight analysis described the PHS malfunction as "mission critical" but noted that the pilot "adequately compensated" for "this anomaly ... in subsequent inflight procedures,"{{sfn|Manned Spacecraft Center|1962|p=1}} confirming that backup systems—human pilots—could succeed when automatic systems fail.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=453}} Organizational tensions between the astronaut office and the flight controller office and simmering resentment among the latter of the astronauts' hero status—account for much of the criticism of Carpenter's performance during his flight.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=300–302}}

NASA's 1989 official history of Project Mercury says that until the third pass over Hawaii, [[Christopher C. Kraft Jr.]] (who directed the flight from Cape Canaveral) "considered this mission the most successful to date; everything had gone perfectly except for some overexpenditure of hydrogen peroxide fuel".{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=453}} However, then problems occurred. Kraft wrote in his 2001 memoir: "He was completely ignoring our request to check his instruments... I swore an oath that Scott Carpenter would never again fly in space."{{sfn|Kraft|2001|p=170}} Kraft went so far as to name the chapter of his memoirs dealing with Carpenter's flight ''The Man Malfunctioned''.{{sfn|Kraft|2001|p=162}}

Yet fuel consumption and other aspects of the vehicle operation were, during Project Mercury, as much if not more the responsibility of the ground controllers. [[Gene Kranz]], assistant flight director at the time, acknowledged that and placed some of the blame on the shoulders of ground control: "A crewman distracted and behind in the flight plan is a danger to the mission and himself. ... The ground had waited too long in addressing the fuel status and should have been more forceful in getting on with the checklists."{{sfn|Kranz|2001|p=91}}

In a 2001 letter to ''[[The New York Times]]'' written in response to a review of Kraft's memoir, Carpenter wrote:{{blockquote|the system failures I encountered during the flight would have resulted in loss of the capsule and total mission failure had a man not been aboard. My postflight debriefings and reports led, in turn, to important changes in capsule design and future flight plans.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |title=Letters |first=Scott |last=Carpenter |date=1 April 2001 |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/letters/letters.html |access-date=27 January 2025 |archive-date=May 16, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250516005553/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/letters/letters.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

"One might argue," wrote [[Tom Wolfe]], "that Carpenter had mishandled the reentry, but to accuse him of ''panic'' made no sense in light of the telemetered data concerning his heart rate and his respiratory rate."{{sfn|Wolfe|1979|p=376}} Schirra would later experience problems with the override button on the subsequent [[Mercury-Atlas 8]] flight.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=353–354}}
Some memoirs, such as that of [[Gene Cernan]], revived the controversy over who or what, exactly, was to blame for the overshoot, suggesting, for example, that Carpenter was distracted by the science and engineering experiments dictated by the flight plan and by the well-reported fireflies phenomenon:
{{blockquote|Scott was the only multi-engine pilot among the elite cadre of veteran jet pilots, and it was whispered that he didn't volunteer for the space program, his dynamic and attractive wife did. Scott was just glad to be around, and was physically fit to an amazing degree. But he screwed up his own Mercury flight by joyriding, not paying enough attention to the job, missing his retrofire cue and splashing down several hundred miles from the target area. It became pretty obvious that Scott would never fly in space again.{{sfn|Cernan|Davis||1999|pp=51–52}} }}
==Ocean research==
{{main|SEALAB}}
Carpenter met [[Jacques Cousteau]], who was giving a public lecture at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in 1963. When Carpenter expressed interest in underwater research, Cousteau suggested that he consider the U.S. Navy's [[SEALAB]] project. Carpenter sought out Captain [[George F. Bond]] from SEALAB, and obtained permission from NASA to take a leave of absence to join the project. In July 1964, he went as part of the SEALAB team to Bermuda, where they held training exercises at Plantagenet Bank in {{convert|200|ft}} of water. While in Bermuda, Carpenter sustained an injury from a [[motorcycle accident]] when he crashed into a coral wall,{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=314–317}} leaving him with a compound fracture in his right arm and damage to his left knee.<ref>{{cite news |title=Astronaut's Wife Reports On Injuries to Carpenter |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=18 July 1964 |page=4 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/07/18/118532435.html?pageNumber=4 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref>

[[File:SealabII.jpg|thumb|left|The first of three [[SEALAB]] II teams. Carpenter is second from left in the front row.]]
In August and September 1965, Carpenter spent 28 days living on the ocean floor in SEALAB II at a depth of {{convert|205|ft}} about {{convert|3000|ft}} off the coast of California. The depth required a cabin gas mixture of 85% helium, 11% nitrogen and 4% oxygen.<ref name="Clarke">{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=T.A. |last2=Flechsig |first2=A.O. |last3=Grigg |first3=R.W. |title=Ecological studies during Project Sealab II. A sand-bottom community at depth of 61 meters and the fauna attracted to "Sealab II" are investigated |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |issn=0036-8075 |volume=157 |issue=3795 |pages=1381–1389 |date=September 1967 |pmid=4382569 |doi= 10.1126/science.157.3795.1381 |bibcode=1967Sci...157.1381C}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Scott Carpenter Leads Unit 200 Feet Under Water |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 August 1965 |page=67 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/08/29/99463017.html?pageNumber=67 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref> He suffered another injury when his right index finger was wounded by the toxic spines of a [[scorpion fish]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Canadian Medical Association Journal]] |volume=95 |issue=5 |date=July 30, 1966 |last=MacInnis |first=Joseph B. |author-link=Joseph B. MacInnis |title=The Medical and Human Performance Problems of Living Under the Sea |pmc=1936772 |pmid=4380341 |pages=191–200}}</ref>{{sfn|Hellwarth|2012|pp=142–143}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Aquanaut Stung By Scorpion Fish |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=13 September 1965 |page=28 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/09/13/94982881.html?pageNumber=28 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref> SEALAB II coincided with Cooper's [[Gemini 5]] mission, and Cooper and Carpenter held the first conversation between a craft in outer space and one on the ocean floor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Aquanauts Begin Sealab Tests; Carpenter Speaks to Gemini 5  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=30 August 1965 |page=17 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/08/30/101565872.html?pageNumber=17 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref>{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=321–322}}

Carpenter returned to NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center|Manned Spacecraft Center]]. He spent the last part of his NASA career developing underwater training to help astronauts with future [[Extravehicular activity|spacewalks]]. He resigned from NASA on August 3, 1967, and joined the Navy's [[Deep Submergence Systems Project]] based in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], as a Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III.<ref name="Clarke"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Carpenter Quits Space Program To Work on Deep-Sea Research |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date= 4 August 1967 |page=8 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/08/04/90387008.html?pageNumber=8 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref> In the aftermath of aquanaut [[Berry L. Cannon]]'s death while attempting to repair a leak in SEALAB III, he volunteered to dive down to SEALAB and help return it to the surface, but SEALAB was ultimately salvaged in a less hazardous manner.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=330}}

After failing to regain mobility in his arm that had been damaged in the motorcycle accident despite surgical interventions in 1964 and 1967,<ref>{{cite news |title=Carpenter Requires Surgery |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 January 1966 |page=36 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/01/25/79286437.html?pageNumber=36 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref>{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=330, 359}} and diagnosed with [[avascular necrosis]] in the knees from deep-sea diving, Carpenter was ruled ineligible for further spaceflight and deep-sea missions. He retired from the Navy in 1969 with the rank of commander, after which he founded Sea Sciences, Inc., a corporation for developing programs for using ocean resources and improving environmental health.<ref>{{cite news |title=Carpenter Ailment Ends His Sea Diving |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date= 7 January 1969 |page=46 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/01/07/77316247.html?pageNumber=46 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref>{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=330, 359}}

[[File:Scott Carpenter in SEALAB II.jpg|thumb|Carpenter in [[SEALAB]] II ]]
After retiring from the Navy, Carpenter became a consultant to sport and diving manufacturers, and to the film industry, on space flight and oceanography. He gave talks and appeared in television documentaries on these subjects. He was involved in projects related to biological pest control and waste disposal, and for the production of energy from industrial and agricultural wastes.{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=329}}<ref name="selfbio" /> Together with the other Mercury Seven astronauts, he established the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation for science and engineering students.<ref name="New York Times Obit">{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |title=Scott Carpenter, One of the Original Seven Astronauts, Is Dead at 88 |first= Richard |last=Goldstein |author-link=Richard Goldstein (writer, born 1944)  |date=10 October 2013 |page=16 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/us/scott-carpenter-mercury-astronaut-who-orbited-earth-dies-at-88.html?searchResultPosition=20 |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref>

Carpenter appeared in television commercials for brands such as [[Oldsmobile]], [[Standard Oil of California]], [[Nintendo]], and [[Atari]]. He wrote a pair of technothrillers, ''The Steel Albatross'' (1991) and ''Deep Flight'' (1994), and in 2003 he published his autobiography, ''For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut'', which was co-written with his daughter, Kristen Stoever.{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=329}}<ref name="selfbio" /> On [[Veterans Day]] in  2008, he joined President [[George W. Bush]] and fellow astronaut [[Buzz Aldrin]]  in a ceremony aboard the ''Intrepid'', the ship whose helicopter had recovered him after his ''Aurora 7'' spaceflight having since become [[Intrepid Museum|a museum]]. In 2012, he joined Glenn and former NASA support staff to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Glenn's mission.<ref name="New York Times Obit" />

==Personal life==
Carpenter was married four times, divorced three times, and had a total of eight children by three wives, seven of whom survived to adulthood.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=331}} He married his first wife, Rene, in September 1948.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=95}} They had five children: Marc Scott, Kristen Elaine, Candace Noxon, Robyn Jay,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/search?f%5B0%5D=subject_person%3ACarpenter,%20Robyn%20Jay,%201952-&f%5B1%5D=source%3A46 |title=Visit of Astronaut Lt. Cmdr. Scott Carpenter & family, 10:00AM |publisher=JFK Library |access-date=January 3, 2019 |archive-date=January 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103061749/https://www.jfklibrary.org/search?f%5B0%5D=subject_person%3ACarpenter%2C%20Robyn%20Jay%2C%201952-&f%5B1%5D=source%3A46 |url-status=live }}</ref> and Timothy Kit, who died in infancy.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|pp=105–107}}{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=200–201}} By 1968, Carpenter and his wife had separated, with him living in California and Rene with their children in [[Washington, D.C.]]  The Carpenters divorced in 1972.<ref name="rene">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20065127,00.html | title=Ex-Astronaut Wife Rene Is the Carpenter in the News Now |magazine=People | date=April 7, 1975 | access-date=July 2, 2015 | author=Martha Fay}}</ref>

In 1972, Carpenter married his second wife, Maria Roach, the daughter of film producer [[Hal Roach]].<ref name="rene" /> Together, they had two children: Matthew Scott and [[Nicholas Carpenter|Nicholas Andre]], who would later become a filmmaker.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=331}} He married his third wife, Barbara Curtin, in 1988.  They had a son, Zachary Scott, when Carpenter was in his 60s.  The marriage ended in divorce a few years later.{{sfn|Carpenter|Stoever|2003|p=331}} In 1999, when he was 74, Carpenter married his fourth wife, Patricia Barrett. They resided in [[Vail, Colorado]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Scott Carpenter Fast Facts|url=http://www.ksbw.com/news/Scott-Carpenter-Fast-Facts/-/1852/19747324/-/rsfxedz/-/index.html|publisher=CNN |access-date=October 10, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012041239/http://www.ksbw.com/news/Scott-Carpenter-Fast-Facts/-/1852/19747324/-/rsfxedz/-/index.html|archive-date=October 12, 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Scott Carpenter funeral 140102-F-IQ437-130.jpg|thumb|left|Patricia Carpenter receives the American flag at Carpenter's funeral, as [[John Glenn]] (left) looks on.]]
In September 2013, Carpenter suffered a [[stroke]] and was hospitalized at the [[Swedish Medical Center (Colorado)|Swedish Medical Center]] in Denver. He was then admitted to the Denver Hospice Inpatient Care Center.  He died on October 10, 2013, at age 88.  He was survived by his wife, four sons and two daughters, a granddaughter, and five step-grandchildren.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.legacy.com/ns/scott-carpenter-obituary/167477300 | last=Borenstein | first=Seth | title=Scott Carpenter Obituary | website=Legacy.com | date=October 2013 | access-date=July 2, 2015 | archive-date=August 11, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811183203/http://www.legacy.com/ns/scott-carpenter-obituary/167477300 | url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=200–201}}

The [[Governor of Colorado]], [[John Hickenlooper]], ordered flags to be flown at [[half-mast]]. A public memorial service was held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder, which was attended by fellow astronauts John Glenn, Gene Cernan, [[Charles Duke]], [[Rusty Schweickart]], [[Jack Schmitt]], [[David Scott]], [[Charles Bolden]], [[Dan Brandenstein]], [[Bob Crippen]], [[Bruce McCandless II]], [[Dick Truly]] and [[Charles D. Walker]].{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=201}} His remains were cremated and the ashes buried on the family's ranch near [[Steamboat Springs, Colorado]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.space.com/23449-mercury-astronaut-scott-carpenter-funeral.html |title=Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter Remembered at Colorado Funeral |website=space.com |date=November 3, 2013 |access-date=December 27, 2018 |archive-date=December 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227084754/https://www.space.com/23449-mercury-astronaut-scott-carpenter-funeral.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

When asked in 2012 what his legacy would be, Carpenter replied: "I was an astronaut and an aquanaut."{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=208}}{{-}}

==Awards and honors==
[[File:Scott Carpenter 1999.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Scott Carpenter in 1999]]

===U.S. Government awards===
* [[United States Naval Aviator|Navy Astronaut Wings]]<ref name="nasa bio">{{cite web  |url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/carpenter-ms.html |title=Astronaut Bio: Scott Carpenter |publisher=NASA |access-date=January 3, 2019|date=February 11, 2015
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161120163532/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/carpenter-ms.html |archive-date=November 20, 2016 }}</ref>
* [[Legion of Merit]]<ref name="nasa bio" />
* [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]]<ref name="nasa bio" />
* [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]]<ref name="nasa bio" />
* [[Navy Unit Commendation]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio">{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/biographies-list/bios-c/Carpenter-Malcolm/Carpenter-Malcolm-Text.html |title=Malcolm Scott Carpenter |publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command |access-date=April 19, 2020 |date=November 16, 2016 |archive-date=May 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515190332/https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/biographies-list/bios-c/Carpenter-Malcolm/Carpenter-Malcolm-Text.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[American Campaign Medal]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio" />
* [[World War II Victory Medal]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio" />
* [[China Service Medal]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio" />
* [[National Defense Service Medal]] with [[Service Star|bronze star]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio" />
* [[Korean Service Medal]] with two [[battle stars]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio" />
* [[United Nations Korea Medal]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio" />
* [[Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation]]<ref name="history.navy.mil bio" />

===Civilian awards===
* [[University of Colorado]] Recognition Medal<ref name="nasa bio" />
* [[Collier Trophy]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26947987/chicago_tribune/|title=Astronauts Have Their Day at the White House|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=October 11, 1963|page=3|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=January 7, 2019|access-date=January 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107124548/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26947987/chicago_tribune/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[New York City]] Gold Medal of Honor<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43589012/dayton_daily_news/|title=New York to Honor Carpenter|newspaper=Dayton Daily News|location=Dayton, Ohio|date=June 3, 1962|via=Newspapers.com|pages=4–9|agency=Associated Press}}</ref>
* [[Elisha Kane|Elisha Kent Kane]] Medal<ref name="nasa bio" />
* [[Boy Scouts of America]] [[Silver Buffalo Award]]<ref name="nasa bio" />
===Honors===

In 1962, Boulder community leaders dedicated Scott Carpenter Park and Pool in his honor. The park features a 25-foot tall climbable metal rocket spaceship.<ref>{{cite web |title=Scott Carpenter Park |url=https://bouldercolorado.gov/parks-rec/scott-carpenter-park |publisher=City of Boulder, Colorado |access-date=August 10, 2020 |archive-date=August 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811044428/https://bouldercolorado.gov/parks-rec/scott-carpenter-park |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |access-date=January 4, 2010 |url=http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6261&Itemid=899 |title=History of Scott Carpenter Park and Pool |publisher=City of Boulder, Colorado |year=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328232810/http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6261&Itemid=899 |archive-date=March 28, 2009 }}</ref> The now-closed Aurora 7 Elementary School, also in Boulder, was named for Carpenter's spacecraft.<ref>{{cite news |title=CU astronaut-alumnus Scott Carpenter looks back at 50th anniversary of Aurora 7 mission |newspaper=[[CU Boulder Today]]  |date=May 21, 2012 |url=https://www.colorado.edu/today/2012/05/21/cu-astronaut-alumnus-scott-carpenter-looks-back-50th-anniversary-aurora-7-mission |access-date=January 28, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Laura |last=Snider |title=Scott Carpenter leaves mark on Boulder, 50 years after blasting into space |newspaper=[[Boulder Daily Camera]] |date=May 18, 2012 |url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2012/05/18/scott-carpenter-leaves-mark-on-boulder-50-years-after-blasting-into-space/ |access-date=January 28, 2025 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022065724/https://www.dailycamera.com/2012/05/18/scott-carpenter-leaves-mark-on-boulder-50-years-after-blasting-into-space/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Scott Carpenter Middle School in [[Westminster, Colorado]], was named in his honor,<ref>{{cite web |title= Scott Carpenter Middle School Students Honor Late Astronaut |date=October 11, 2013 |publisher= CBS Colorado |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/scott-carpenter-middle-school-students-honor-late-astronaut/ |access-date=January 28, 2025}}</ref> as was M. Scott Carpenter Elementary School in [[Old Bridge, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics |title=M. Scott Carpenter Elementary School (340927003516) |url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3409270&ID=340927003516 |access-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-date=April 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405233737/https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3409270&ID=340927003516 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Carpenter Elementary School |website=www.oldbridgeadmin.org |url=https://www.oldbridgeadmin.org/o/ces |access-date=28 January 2025}}</ref> The [[Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station]] was placed on the ocean floor in 1997 and 1998. It was named in honor of his SEALAB work in the 1960s.<ref name=SCSAS>{{cite web|access-date=January 4, 2010|url=http://quest.nasa.gov/space/challenge/background/station.html|title=Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station|author=Chamberland, Dennis|work=The Challenge Project |publisher=NASA |year=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803202352/http://quest.nasa.gov/space/challenge/background/station.html |archive-date=August 3, 2009}}</ref>

Carpenter was inducted into the [[International Air & Space Hall of Fame]] in 2008,<ref>{{cite web |title=Scott Carpenter |publisher=San Diego Air & Space Museum |url=https://sandiegoairandspace.org/hall-of-fame/honoree/scott-carpenter |access-date=2 March 2025 |archive-date=October 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006091911/https://sandiegoairandspace.org/hall-of-fame/honoree/scott-carpenter |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[International Space Hall of Fame]] in 1981,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29986892/albuquerque_journal/|title=Hall to Induct Seven Space Pioneers|newspaper=[[Albuquerque Journal]]|date=September 27, 1981|page=53|last1=Harbert|first1=Nancy|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=March 27, 2019|access-date=March 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327223131/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29986892/albuquerque_journal/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[National Aviation Hall of Fame]] in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Enshrinee Scott Carpenter |url=https://nationalaviation.org/enshrinee/m-scott-carpenter/ |publisher=National Aviation Hall of Fame |access-date=February 1, 2023}}</ref> Along with the rest of the Mercury Seven astronauts, he was named to the [[United States Astronaut Hall of Fame|U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33222502/victoria_advocate/|title=Mercury Astronauts Dedicate Hall of Fame at Florida Site|newspaper=[[Victoria Advocate]]|location=Victoria, Texas|date=May 12, 1990|page=38|via=Newspapers.com|agency=Associated Press|archive-date=February 12, 2020|access-date=June 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212130559/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33222502/victoria_advocate/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
Speaking from the [[blockhouse]] at the launch of ''Friendship 7'', Carpenter said "Godspeed, John Glenn" as Glenn's vehicle rose off the launch pad to begin the first U.S. orbital mission on February 20, 1962.<ref>{{cite news |title=Scott Carpenter delivered the historic sendoff: 'Godspeed, John Glenn' |newspaper=[[The Patriot-News]] |agency=Associated Press |date=October 11, 2013 |url=https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2013/10/scott_carpenter_delivered_the.html |access-date=January 28, 2025 |archive-date=May 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517112838/https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2013/10/scott_carpenter_delivered_the.html |url-status=live }}</ref>  The quote was included in the voiceovers of the teaser trailer for the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (2009 film)|Star Trek]]'' film.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Glen E. |last=Swanson |date=September 7, 2021 |title=The making of an Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian and the aerospace industry helped create Star Trek |magazine=[[The Space Review]] |url=https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4240/1 |access-date=2 March 2025 |archive-date=December 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241219203936/https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4240/1 |url-status=live }}</ref> The audio phrase is also used in [[Kenny G]]'s "Auld Lang Syne" (The Millennium Mix).<ref>{{cite web |access-date=January 4, 2010 |url=http://www.rhapsody.com/kenny-g/faith-a-holiday-album/auld-lan-syne-the-millennium-mix/lyrics.html |title=''Auld Lan Syne'' (The Millennium Mix) |author=Kenny G. |work=Faith: A Holiday Album |publisher=EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. |year=1999}}</ref>

[[Scott Tracy]] in the ''[[Thunderbirds (TV series)|Thunderbirds]]'' television series was named after Carpenter.{{sfn|Marriott|1992|p=18}} In the 1983 film ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]'', Carpenter is played by [[Charles Frank]]. Although his appearance is relatively minor, the film plays up Carpenter's friendship with Glenn (as played by [[Ed Harris]]). This film is based on [[The Right Stuff (book)|the 1979 book by Tom Wolfe]].{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=232}} In the 2015 [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] TV series ''[[The Astronaut Wives Club]]'', Carpenter is portrayed by [[Wilson Bethel]],<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Nellie |last=Andreeva |date=October 13, 2014 |title=Wilson Bethel To Co-Star On ABC's 'Astronaut Wives Club', Pen Drama For CW |magazine=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |url=https://deadline.com/2014/10/wilson-bethel-astronaut-wives-club-cw-drama-script-849656/ |access-date = January 18, 2015}}</ref> and Rene Carpenter by [[Yvonne Strahovski]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/yvonne-strahovski-star-abcs-astronaut-736923|title=Yvonne Strahovski to Co-Star in ABC's 'Astronaut Wives Club'|date=September 30, 2014|magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |access-date=September 30, 2014}}</ref> In the 2020 [[Disney+]] miniseries ''[[The Right Stuff (TV series)|The Right Stuff]]'', Carpenter is played by [[James Lafferty]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Whatever 'The Right Stuff' is, this Disney Plus adaptation could use more of it |first=Hank |last=Stuever |date=October 8, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/the-right-stuff-disney-plus-review/2020/10/07/adcec516-080d-11eb-9be6-cf25fb429f1a_story.html |access-date=September 24, 2021}}</ref>
==Books==
* ''We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves'', {{ISBN|978-1439181034}} co-written with Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton.
* ''For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut'', {{ISBN|0-15-100467-6}} or the revised paperback edition {{ISBN|0-451-21105-7}}, Carpenter's biography, co-written with his daughter Kristen Stoever; describes his childhood, his experiences as a naval aviator, a Mercury astronaut, including an account of what went wrong, and right, on the flight of ''Aurora 7''.
* ''The Steel Albatross'', {{ISBN|978-0831776084}}. Science fiction. A technothriller set around the life of a fighter pilot in the US Navy's Top Gun school.
* ''Deep Flight'', {{ISBN|978-0671759032}}. Science fiction. Follow-on to ''The Steel Albatross''.

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Atkinson |first1=Joseph D. |last2=Shafritz |first2=Jay M. |title=The Real Stuff: A History of NASA's Astronaut Recruitment Program |location=New York |publisher=Praeger |series=Praeger special studies |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-03-005187-6  |oclc=12052375 }}
* {{cite book |last=Burgess |first=Colin | author-link=Colin Burgess (author) |title=Selecting the Mercury Seven: The Search for America's First Astronauts |location=New York; London |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |series=Springer-Praxis books in space exploration |isbn=978-1-4419-8405-0 |oclc=747105631 }}
* {{cite book |last=Burgess |first=Colin | author-link=Colin Burgess (author) |title=Aurora 7: the Mercury Space flight of M. Scott Carpenter |location=New York |publisher=Springer |year=2016 |series=Springer-Praxis books in space exploration |isbn=978-3-319-20438-3 |oclc=909327788 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Carpenter|first1=M. Scott <!-- |author-link1=Scott Carpenter -->|last2=Cooper|first2=L. Gordon Jr.|author-link2=Gordon Cooper|last3=Glenn|first3=John H. Jr.|author-link3=John Glenn|last4=Grissom|first4=Virgil I.|author-link4=Gus Grissom|last5=Schirra|first5=Walter M. Jr.|author-link5=Wally Schirra|last6=Shepard|first6=Alan B. Jr.|author-link6=Alan Shepard|last7=Slayton|first7=Donald K.|author-link7=Donald K. Slayton|title=We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves|url=https://archive.org/details/wesevencarp00carp|url-access=registration|orig-year=Originally published 1962|year=2010|publisher=Simon & Schuster Paperbacks|location=New York|isbn=978-1-4391-8103-4|oclc=429024791|lccn=62019074|ref=CITEREFCarpenter et al.2010}}
* {{cite book |last1=Carpenter |first1=Scott |last2=Stoever |first2=Kris |title=For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey Of A Mercury Astronaut |year=2003 |publisher=NAL Trade |location= New York |isbn=978-0-451-21105-7 |oclc=52821294 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Cernan |first1=Eugene |last2=Davis |first2=Don |author-link=Eugene Cernan |title=The Last Man on the Moon |year=1999 |publisher=St. Martins Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-312-19906-7 |oclc=751411480 |url=https://archive.org/details/lastmanonmoonast00cern_0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ezell |first=Linda Neuman |id=SP-4012 |title=NASA Historical Data Book |volume=II: Programs and Projects, 1958–1968 |year=1988 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=1057094462 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Glenn |first1=John |author-link=John Glenn |last2=Taylor |first2=Nick |title=John Glenn: A Memoir |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-553-11074-6 |oclc=42290245 }}
* {{cite book |last=Grimwood |first=Charles C. |id=SP-4001 |title=Project Mercury: A Chronology |series=The NASA History Series |year=1963 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19630011968.pdf |access-date=December 27, 2018 |oclc=840695484 |archive-date=May 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507171758/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19630011968.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Hellwarth |first=Ben |title=Sealab: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-7432-4745-0 |oclc=464593094 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sealabamericasfo0000hell }}
* {{cite book |last=Kranz |first=Gene |author-link=Gene Kranz |title=Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond |publisher=Berkley Books |location=New York |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-425-17987-1 |oclc=46462822 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kraft |first=Chris |title=Flight: My Life in Mission Control |publisher=Dutton |year=2001 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-525-94571-0 |oclc=49323520 |url=https://archive.org/details/flight00chri }}
* {{cite book |author=Manned Spacecraft Center |title=Results of the Second U.S. Manned Orbital Space Flight, May 24, 1962 |id=SP-6 |year=1962 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19620004691.pdf |access-date=December 27, 2018 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=1044057680 |archive-date=June 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618110035/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19620004691.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Marriott |first=John |year=1992 |title=Thunderbirds Are Go! |location=London |publisher=Boxtree |isbn=978-1-85283-164-6 |oclc=27642248 }}
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Michael D. |title=Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons |volume=2 |chapter=Patrol Squadron Histories for 3rd VP-18 to 1st VP-22 |publisher=Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy |year=2000 |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/dictionary-of-american-naval-aviation-squadrons-volume-2/pdfs/chap3-4.pdf |access-date=September 8, 2023 |archive-date=January 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128232300/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/dictionary-of-american-naval-aviation-squadrons-volume-2/pdfs/chap3-4.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Swenson |first1=Loyd S. Jr. |first2=James M. |last2=Grimwood |first3=Charles C. |last3=Alexander |title=This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19990026158.pdf |access-date=June 28, 2007 |series=The NASA History Series |year=1966 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, DC |oclc=569889 |id=NASA SP-4201 |archive-date=March 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317085646/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19990026158.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Wolfe |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Wolfe |title-link=The Right Stuff (book)|title=The Right Stuff |location=New York |year=1979 |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |isbn=978-0-553-27556-8 |oclc=849889526 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|auto=yes}}
* [http://www.setp.org/winners/iven-c-kincheloe-recipients.html Iven C. Kincheloe Awards]
* [http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=52 Carpenter at International Space Hall of Fame]
* [https://www.vp-6.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=309126&module_id=146272 Remembering Scott Carpenter] by Patrol Squadron 6 shipmate Charles Pomeroy
* {{cite news |last1=Carpenter |first1=Rene |title=The Time That Grew Too Long |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26 |access-date=August 2, 2015 |magazine=Life Magazine |date=June 1, 1962 |pages=26–37 |ref=none}}  Rene Carpenter's article for [[Life magazine|''Life'' magazine]] on Carpenter's flight.
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.dod.dimoc.25026|name="Story of Sealab II (1965)"}}

{{NASA Astronaut Group 1|state=expanded}}
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