Mercury 7 Astronaut Scott Carpenter Has Died

[ScreamingMeemie]

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9282434

snip-

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA's Mercury project, has passed away at age 88.

Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth, and the fourth American in space. His daughter, Kristen Stoever, confirms he passed away at 5:30am in Vail, Colorado. He had suffered a stroke late last month.

Carpenter's death leaves John Glenn as the last living member of the Mercury Seven.

-snip

He spoke with my daughter's 1st grade class 17 years or so ago. A very nice man. Rest in Peace, Rocketman.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Yes indeed...rest in peace...

Another piece of our youth is gone now.

[ScreamingMeemie]

30. Time moves so quickly.

[LongTomH]

2. Farewell and Godspeed, Commander Carpenter

[edbermac]

3. Damn, he had an interesting career as astronaut and aquanaut.

In earth orbit on Aurora 7 and underwater on the Sealab project.

I have his book, For Spacious Skies, a very unique personality.

RIP Scott Carpenter

[ScreamingMeemie]

31. A very unique life.

And a bit of a conservationist when it came to the oceans.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Rest in Peace, Scott Carpenter.

Thanks for the thread, ScreamingMeemie.

[ScreamingMeemie]

32. It really choked me up when I read it.

[HangOnKids]

5. RIP RocketMan Indeed

[SheilaT]

6. Sigh

Only John Glenn is left. And I'm old enough to remember when the original seven were announced.

[rurallib]

17. me too - and our imaginations went wild with what was to come

[randome]

7. Those were the days.

When everything was possible.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[ScreamingMeemie]

33. ...

So sad to see the program dwindle.

[watercolors]

8. Remember meeting him, RIP

Worked at the cape, met most of the astronauts, courageous men!

[Blue_Tires]

9. r.i.p.

Like the other original Mercury 7, he's going to need a separate casket just for his balls...

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. .

I cannot imagine the courage it took to ride atop that booster.

[oswaldactedalone]

10. He was unfairly criticized

by NASA following his flight. Equipment malfunctions caused his 250 mile landing overshoot, not any loss of concentration by Carpenter. Deke Slayton, who was medically removed from flight and later moved into flight operations, became a real hardass toward the other Mercury astronauts. He roundly criticized Carpenter saying he would never again schedule him for spaceflight.

Slayton also criticized Gus Grissom for the "hatch blowing" incident where Grissom's capsule sank. Years later, a design flaw was found which put the hatches at risk of blowing open on their own. Lots of unfair criticism of some very heroic men.

RIP Mr. Carpenter.

[GatorOrange]

11. Slayton thought nothing of the sort of Gus Grissom....

Slayton constantly defended Gus against the "hatch blowing" event. He took serious issue of the way Gus was portrayed in Wolfe's The Right Stuff as a bumbling klutz. Slayton even said he preferred a Mercury 7 Astronaut to be first on the Moon. Al Shepard was still dealing with his Meniere's Disease so that wasn't going to happen. He stated multiple times Gus Grissom would have been his choice to be first on the Moon had Apollo 1 not happened.

Carpenter's flight was an unmitigated disaster according to most within NASA like Chris Kraft and Walt Williams. Kraft was actually the one who said "That Son Of A Bitch Will Never Fly For Me Again!". Never did either...

EDIT: Al Shepard was the bad cop to "Father Slayton's" good cop. Al was the one the astronauts feared above all others.

[edbermac]

13. I think that was flight director Chris Kraft more than Slayton.

I know he wrote a chapter in his book Flight called The Man Malfunctioned in which he openly criticized Carpenter, not sure if Slayton was that openly critical of his fellow astros. I know he butted heads with Gordo Cooper.

Edit: As Gator said Slayton and Grissom were pretty tight. If Gus had not died in the Apollo 1 fire, odds were good that he would have taken that first 'small step for a man' on the moon.

[GatorOrange]

14. Most of the brass at NASA took issue with Gordo Cooper

Cooper hated the repetitive training routine that expanded as Gemini/Apollo rolled on and it really grinded his superiors gears. Gordo buzzed the Admin Office at the Cape before his Mercury flight (a two story building where Walt Williams looked DOWN at the buzzing jet). Almost lost his flight to Al Shepard in that instance. Great instinctual pilot though.

[Kingofalldems]

16. I seem to remember his ex wife became a TV personality

for a while.

[Half-Century Man]

12. I listened to the broadcasts of Mercury and Appollo

We stared up as we clung to those words; Like a horde of housebound children amazed at the few who climbed up to the window sill to look outside and cry "it's so pretty".

[ScreamingMeemie]

28. I love what you wrote.

[Cooley Hurd]

15. ...and then there was one.

Godspeed and Cross Gently, Scotty.

[Wilms]

18. ^

[SlipperySlope]

19. Mercury Astronauts had balls of steel

Remember, those were the days when rockets exploding at launch seemed routine.

RIP Hero.

[ScreamingMeemie]

27. Honestly breathtaking how brave one had to be..

[MindPilot]

20. lived on the cape when I was a little kid

mid to late fifties.

The space program was an integral part of my life, so sad to see it dwindling away.

Carpenter and men like him changed the world, and men like him never really die.

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. It is really sad.

[Hekate]

21. Thanks for giving wings to our dreams. Rest sweetly. nt

[locks]

22. A courageous man

Scott Carpenter attended Boulder High and the University of Colorado and we are proud to have a city park and pool for our children named for him. Last year the park was rededicated to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his 1962 space flight.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. Even now, watching the films, it's amazing

The courage it took to climb into that capsule.

[nolabear]

23. Cross easy. And thank you for so many of my youthful dreams.

Those people made me feel as if we could do anything. I hope we still can.

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. I hope so too.

[Warren DeMontague]

29. Rest in peace.

[Lint Head]

35. I use to dream about being an astronaut.