Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter dies at age 88

Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut and the second American to ever orbit the Earth, passed away today, October 10th, in Denver. He was 88 years old.

Born on May 1st, 1925, in Boulder, Colorado, Malcolm Scott Carpenter's started towards his career as an astronaut right out of high school, when he joined the V-12 Navy College Training Program and trained as a pilot throughout World War II. It wasn't until several years later, though, during the Korean War, that he was able to put his training to use. After the war, he continued to serve in various ways, including as a test pilot and air intelligence officer, until he was selected for NASA's Mercury program in 1959. As one of the seven men selected for the program, Carpenter was the fourth American to fly into space, following the sub-orbital flights of Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom in 1961, and the full-orbital flight of John Glenn in February 1962.

Carpenter's Mercury spacecraft — named Aurora 7 — launched into Earth orbit on May 24th, 1962. Although the mission started out quite well, due to a malfunction in one of the on-board instruments, Carpenter had to guide his own re-entry into Earth's atmosphere manually. This hitch in the mission plan caused him to overshoot his intended destination, and he splashed down around 400 kms away. After he was recovered and debriefed, his reports "led, in turn, to important changes in capsule design and flight plans," he wrote in a letter to the New York Times in 2001.

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Although he never went back into space, due to a motorcycle injury he sustained in 1964, he went on afterwards to make the change from astronaut to aquanaut — spending nearly a month living in SEALAB II, on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. Retiring from NASA in 1967, he continued to work in ocean research, and contributed to improvements in the design of breathing apparatus, propulsion systems and submersibles.

It was roughly two weeks ago today that Scott Carpenter suffered a stroke, and was recovering in a rehabilitation centre. According to collectSPACE, he passed away at 5:30 a.m. MDT, with his wife, Patty Barrett, at his side. He is also survived by his seven children, two stepchildren, and six grandchildren.

He only spent just shy of five hours in orbit, but his contributions to human spaceflight were invaluable, and he will always be remembered. Godspeed, Scott Carpenter.

(Photo courtesy NASA)

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