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Scott CarpenterMalcolm Scott Carpenter (born May 1, 1925) was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts for Project Mercury, chosen in 1959 to lead America in its race to beat the Russians to the moon. He was the second American to orbit, and the fourth in space. A pilot with the U.S. Navy, Carpenter flew into space on May 24, 1962, atop the Mercury-Atlas 7 rocket for a three-day mission. Carpenter was back-up pilot for John Glenn and when Deke Slayton was withdrawn on medical grounds from the second manned orbital flight of Project Mercury he was assigned as pilot. His Aurora 7 spacecraft attained a maximum altitude of 164 miles and an orbital velocity of 17,532 miles per hour. His primary goal during the three-orbit mission was to determine whether an astronaut could work in space, but a series of snafus hobbled the mission. Carpenter was distracted by observing the Earth and the 'fire fly' particles of frozen liquid around the craft. Carpenter also used too much fuel during the flight and miss timed the re-entry burning making the craft overshoot his landing point by 250 miles. He was never chosen to fly in space again, and was given an extended leave of absence to work on the Navy's Sealab project in which in 1965 he spent 28 days living on the ocean bed. Carpenter retired from the Navy in 1969. For an excellent first-hand account of his experiences as a pilot, a Mercury Astronaut, and his life after Mercury, including an account of what went wrong, and right, on the Aurora 7 spaceflight see his memoirs co-written with his daughter, entitled "For Spacious Skies" ISBN 0151004676 or the revised paperback edition ISBN 0451211057 Carpenter,Scott Carpenter,Scott Carpenter,Scott Carpenter,Scott
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