70 Facts About Scott Carpenter

Malcolm Scott Carpenter was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut.

Scott Carpenter was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959.

Scott Carpenter was backup to Glenn during the latter's Mercury Atlas 6 orbital mission.

Scott Carpenter flew the next mission, Mercury-Atlas 7, in the spacecraft he named Aurora 7.

Scott Carpenter obtained permission from NASA to take a leave of absence to join the US Navy SEALAB project as an aquanaut.

Scott Carpenter returned to NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, then joined the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project in 1967 as Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III.

Scott Carpenter retired from NASA in 1967, and from the Navy in 1969.

Malcolm Scott Carpenter was born on May 1,1925, in Boulder, Colorado, the son of Marion Scott Carpenter, a research chemist, and Florence Kelso.

Scott 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.

Scott Carpenter's condition deteriorated, and she entered the Mesa Vista Sanatorium in 1930.

Scott Carpenter recovered sufficiently to become chief medical librarian at Boulder Community Hospital in 1945.

Scott Carpenter's father remained in New York, and he seldom saw him.

Scott Carpenter found it hard to find work during the Great Depression, but eventually secured a good position at Givaudan.

Scott Carpenter's parents divorced in 1945, and his father remarried.

Scott Carpenter lived with his maternal grandparents in the family home at the corner of Aurora Avenue and Seventh Street.

Scott Carpenter later denied naming his spacecraft Aurora 7 after Aurora Avenue.

Scott Carpenter 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.

Scott Carpenter was a Boy Scout, and earned the rank of Second Class Scout.

Scott Carpenter then traveled to the headquarters of the 12th Naval District in San Francisco, where he was accepted into the Navy's V-5 Aviation Cadet Training Program.

When Scott Carpenter graduated from high school, he became a V-12A aviation cadet at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

Scott Carpenter was given credit for his previous study, and entered as a junior.

Scott Carpenter was severely injured in a car accident on September 14,1946, after he fell asleep at the wheel of his 1934 Ford.

Scott Carpenter met Rene Louise Price, a fellow student at the University of Colorado, where she studied history and music.

Scott Carpenter was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority.

Scott Carpenter's parents had separated when she was young, and her mother too suffered from tuberculosis.

On October 31,1949, Scott Carpenter was recruited by the Navy's Direct Procurement Program as its 500th candidate.

Scott Carpenter reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, for pre-flight training, from which he graduated on March 6,1950.

Scott Carpenter then commenced primary flight training at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, learning to fly in an SNJ trainer.

Scott Carpenter then went to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi for advanced training.

On his first deployment, Scott Carpenter flew on reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare missions from Naval Air Station Atsugi in Japan during the Korean War.

Scott Carpenter was part of Class 13, at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1954.

Scott Carpenter flew aircraft such as the AD Skyraider and the Martin P4M Mercator.

Scott Carpenter remained at Patuxent River until 1957, working as a test pilot in the Electronics Test Division.

Scott Carpenter was considered the most physically fit by his peers; he had the lowest body fat, scored highest on the treadmill and cycling tests, and was able to hold his breath the longest.

Rene answered; Scott Carpenter was on Hornet, but she could reach him.

Scott Carpenter called Donlan from a wharfside pay phone to accept the offer.

Each had a specialty; Scott Carpenter's was the onboard navigational equipment.

Scott Carpenter served as backup pilot on Mercury-Atlas 6 for Glenn, who flew the first US orbital mission aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962.

Scott Carpenter, serving as capsule communicator on this flight, can be heard saying "Godspeed, John Glenn" on the recording of Glenn's liftoff.

Scott Carpenter was assigned to replace him instead of Slayton's backup, Schirra, as Scott Carpenter had more training time in the simulators.

Scott Carpenter performed five onboard experiments per the flight plan, and became the first American astronaut to eat solid food in space.

Scott Carpenter 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.

The thrusters had a set sequence of ignition, and that sequence was delayed by Scott Carpenter manually firing them.

Some memoirs, such as that of Gene Cernan, have revived the simmering controversy over who or what, exactly, was to blame for the overshoot, suggesting, for example, that Scott Carpenter was distracted by the science and engineering experiments dictated by the flight plan and by the well-reported fireflies phenomenon:.

Scott Carpenter 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 Carpenter was just glad to be around, and was physically fit to an amazing degree.

Scott Carpenter met Jacques Cousteau, who was giving a public lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963.

When Scott Carpenter expressed interest in underwater research, Cousteau suggested that he might consider the US Navy's SEALAB project.

In 1965, for SEALAB II, Scott Carpenter spent 28 days living on the ocean floor off the coast of California.

Scott Carpenter suffered another injury when his right index finger was wounded by the toxic spines of a scorpion fish.

SEALAB II coincided with Cooper's Gemini 5 mission, and he and Scott Carpenter held the first conversation between a craft in outer space and one on the ocean floor.

Scott Carpenter returned to NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, then joined the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project based in Bethesda, Maryland, as a Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III in 1967.

Scott Carpenter spent the last part of his NASA career developing underwater training to help astronauts with future spacewalks.

Scott Carpenter resigned from NASA in August 1967, and retired from the Navy with the rank of commander in 1969, after which he founded Sea Sciences, Inc.

Scott Carpenter became a consultant to sport and diving manufacturers, and to the film industry on space flight and oceanography.

Scott Carpenter gave talks, and appeared in television documentaries on these subjects.

Scott Carpenter was involved in projects related to biological pest control and waste disposal, and for the production of energy from industrial and agricultural wastes.

Scott Carpenter appeared in television commercials for brands such as Oldsmobile, Standard Oil of California, Nintendo, and Atari.

Scott Carpenter wrote a pair of technothrillers, The Steel Albatross and Deep Flight, 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.

Scott Carpenter was married four times, divorced three times, and had a total of eight children by three wives, seven of whom survived to adulthood.

Scott Carpenter married his first wife, Rene, in September 1948.

In 1972, Scott Carpenter married his second wife, Maria Roach, the daughter of film producer Hal Roach.

Scott Carpenter married his third wife, Barbara Curtin, in 1988.

In 1999, when he was 74, Scott Carpenter married his fourth wife, Patricia Barrett.

In September 2013, Scott Carpenter suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in the Swedish Medical Center in Denver.

Scott Carpenter was then admitted to the Denver Hospice Inpatient Care Center.

Scott Carpenter died on October 10,2013, at the age of 88.

Scott Carpenter was survived by his wife, four sons and two daughters, a granddaughter, and five step-grandchildren.

Scott Carpenter's remains were cremated and the ashes buried on the family's ranch near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

In 2017, Scott Carpenter was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.