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 1925 - 2013 (88 years) Submit Photo / Document
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| Name |
Malcolm Scott Carpenter |
| Born |
1 May 1925 |
Boulder, Boulder, Colorado  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Military Service |
U.S. Navy |
| Occupation |
24 May 1962 |
| NASA astronaut. Pilot of the Mercury Atlas-7 mission. |
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Mercury 7.
The "Mercury 7" were the first seven Americans selected to be astronauts. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. |
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M. Scott Carpenter Aurora 7
M Scott Carpenter boarding the Aurora 7 spacecraft. |
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Mercury Atlas-7 Liftoff.
Mercury Atlas-7 Liftoff. |
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Aurora 7.
The Aurora 7 space capsule is now on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.
The Mercury capsule was capable of keeping and astronaut alive and returning him to Earth and nothing more. Yet that was enough to cause trouble for Carpenter. The start of that trouble was a malfunctioning yaw sensor. Due to bad data the computer was keeping the spacecraft misaligned. Realigning the spacecraft used more fuel than the mission called for.
On the ground the flight controller sent a constant stream of orders via capcoms for Carpenter to conserve his fuel. Carpenter wasn't worried. After the first orbit the computer lit the low fuel warning light. Carpenter promptly covered it with a piece of tape so it wouldn’t bother him.
He did his best to conserve the remaining fuel while accomplishing the experiments he was tasked with. He also experienced "fireflies". Mysterious flashing lights that were first seen by John Glen when he accomplished America's first orbital space flight. Carpenter was able to determine they were nothing more than frost coming off the capsule itself.
He was accused of inattention which other than investigating the "fireflies" wasn't the case. He was also accused of panicking which, flight recordings of his medical data, his heart rate, blood pressure, etc. show that wasn't the case.
After 3 orbits and just shy of 5 hours, reentry began 3 seconds late. This ended up causing him to overshooting his re-entry target by about 250 miles.
After learning from NASA that the recovery crew were at least an hour away, Carpenter crawled out of the cramped, hot capsule. He dropped a life raft into the ocean, and took the time to relax and think about the mission. When the recovery divers swam up to the raft three hours later, Carpenter offered them some food from his survival kit.
More than anything this pointed out the biggest flaw of the Mercury era. The orbiting astronaut, an experienced test pilot wanted to be in command of his mission, but so did the Flight Director who was an engineer. Eventually the Gemini missions became more complex and the balance of power forever shifted in the astronaut's favor.
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Carpenter Recovery.
Carpenter Recovery. |
| Military Service |
1963 |
U.S. Navy |
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Sealab II Team 1.
Carpenter is in front, second from the left.
In 1963 Carpenter met explorer, Jacques Cousteau. After a conversation about sea exploration Cousteau suggested that Carpenter should try and join the Navy's SEALAB project. He sought out the permissions and obtained a leave of absence from NASA.
In July 1964 while in Bermuda training with the SEALAB team he was involved in a motorcycle accident and was injured such that he would eventually be grounded as a pilot.
In 1965, Carpenter spent 28 days living on the ocean floor off the coast of California. He suffered another injury when his right index finger was wounded by the toxic spines of a scorpion fish. The SEALAB II mission happened at the same time as Gordon Cooper's Gemini 5 mission, he and Carpenter held the first conversation between a craft in outer space and one on the ocean floor.
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Scott Carpenter in SEALAB II.
Surgery failed to restore full mobility to his arm and he was judged not fit for further space flights or deep-sea missions. He returned to NASA serving as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center and, developing underwater training to train astronauts for spacewalks.
He resigned his position with NASA in August 1967, and retired from the Navy with the rank of commander in 1969. |
| Died |
10 Oct 2013 |
Denver, Denver, Colorado |
| Buried |
- His remains were cremated and the ashes buried on the family's ranch near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
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Scott Carpenter Funeral.
Patricia Carpenter, wife of retired Commander Scott Carpenter, receives an American flag during his funeral. |
| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Person ID |
I56306 |
Nagel |
| Last Modified |
14 Dec 2020 |
| Father |
Marion Scott Carpenter, b. 23 Jun 1900, Denver, Denver, Colorado , d. Jan 1973, Palmer Lake, El Paso, Colorado (Age 72 years) |
| Relationship |
Birth |
| Mother |
Florence Kelso Noxon, b. 9 Sep 1900, Idaho Springs, Clear Creek, Colorado , d. 2 Nov 1962, Boulder, Boulder, Colorado (Age 62 years) |
| Relationship |
Birth |
| Married |
14 Feb 1925 |
Denver, Denver, Colorado |
| Family ID |
F16475 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 1 |
Rene Louis Mason, b. 2 Apr 1928, Clinton, Clinton, Iowa , d. 24 Jul 2020, Denver, Denver, Colorado (Age 92 years) |
| Divorced |
Apr 1970 |
Los Angeles County, California |
| Children |
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| Last Modified |
24 Dec 2020 |
| Family ID |
F16476 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Event Map |
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 | Born - 1 May 1925 - Boulder, Boulder, Colorado |
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 | Divorced - Apr 1970 - Los Angeles County, California |
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 | Died - 10 Oct 2013 - Denver, Denver, Colorado |
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| Pin Legend |
 : Address
 : Location
 : City/Town
 : County/Shire
 : State/Province
 : Country
 : Not Set |
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