RIP Scott Carpenter

[ryan8558]

(CNN) -- Astronaut Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit Earth, died on Thursday, NASA said. He was 88.

"We, the whole NASA family, are mourning with Scott's family. We have lost a true pioneer. I shall long remember him not only for his smarts and courage but his incredible humor. He kept us all grounded," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. "We will miss him greatly."

Carpenter was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts chosen by NASA. He was a backup pilot for John Glenn in the preparation for America's first manned orbital space flight in February 1962, according to a NASA biography.

Carpenter flew the second American manned orbital flight in May of that year. Flight time was four hours and 54 minutes.

He was born in Boulder, Colorado, and attended the University of Colorado, where he studied aeronautical engineering.

 

[Wrong Element]

Too bad for him he only had that one space flight.

I think The Right Stuff (the movie) came out 30 years ago this month. Both book and film are absolute classics.

 

[miles]

He was a hero back in the day.

 

[islandman]

A real, American hero.

 

[ryan8558]

Sierra Hotel!!

 

[doctor_insanus]

Too bad for him he only had that one space flight.

I think The Right Stuff (the movie) came out 30 years ago this month. Both book and film are absolute classics.

Love both the book and the movie.

Carpenter probably got the least amount of "face time" in the story, and his mission caused a lot of clenched assholes on the ground, but he seemed like the most philosophical of the bunch. Interesting guy, and a genuine hero.

RIP.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

I'm a fan of any astronaut who has ever flown, but it was pretty reckless and irresponsible of him to nearly run out of fuel. It's not as if he had a ton of tasks to perform that distracted his attention. He was a test pilot, ferchrissakes! His job is to monitor systems. I don't blame Kraft for being pissed.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I'm a fan of any astronaut who has ever flown, but it was pretty reckless and irresponsible of him to nearly run out of fuel. It's not as if he had a ton of tasks to perform that distracted his attention. He was a test pilot, ferchrissakes! His job is to monitor systems. I don't blame Kraft for being pissed.

Gus Grissom forgetting to disable his explosive hatch and sinking his Mercury capsule ran a close second.

 

[Jagged]

Did his part to move humanity into the stars...I hope history looks well on him as one of the firsts. Thanks for posting this. I didn't see that online just the usual celebrity trash.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/u...ronaut-who-orbited-earth-dies-at-88.html?_r=0

 

[Killswitch]

Whens that dipwad buzz aldrin going to die.

 

[KingOrfeo]

I'm a fan of any astronaut who has ever flown, but it was pretty reckless and irresponsible of him to nearly run out of fuel. It's not as if he had a ton of tasks to perform that distracted his attention. He was a test pilot, ferchrissakes! His job is to monitor systems. I don't blame Kraft for being pissed.

I don't know that story. How did he "nearly run out of fuel"? Wouldn't others have topped off the tanks before launch?

 

[Colonel Hogan]

I don't know that story. How did he "nearly run out of fuel"? Wouldn't others have topped off the tanks before launch?

It was a combination of factors. The first was a new hand controller for manual maneuvering. If you squeezed it gently a pound of thrust was dispensed by the hydrogen peroxide jets. Squeeze a little harder and the thrust was 25 pounds. And those were the only two choices!! It was the proverbial ease your car into the garage only to suddenly crash through your work bench and into the back yard!

But the other factor was Carpenter's lust for exploration and satisfying his own curiosity by positioning the space craft for the optimum angle for photography and other experiments. He was warned by the ground several times about conserving fuel, and it was on his mind but he also seemed unable to restrain himself. When he discovered he could reproduce John Glenn's famous "fireflies" by banging on the hatch, he did it several times and each time used fuel to examine them more closely.

As re-entry time approached, the space craft was not holding a proper re-entry angle so he switched control systems. In doing so, he forgot to turn the manual system off and was actually using fuel from two different systems for a full 10 minutes. He had to fire the retros manually, and it was not at all certain when he entered radio blackout if he was in the proper re-entry corridor or if he had enough fuel to correct the capsule's oscillations even if he was.

He landed 250 miles down range and out of radio contact. It took a rescue aircraft 40 minutes to find him. Prior to that time, Kraft, the other controllers and even Walter Cronkite on CBS were almost certain they had lost him.

He ended up getting the full NASA hero welcome, but Kraft was already telling a few co-workers, "That sonofabitch we'll never fly for me again!"