By: Terry Donnelly
Oct. 14, 2013
On April 10, 1959 seven men crossed the threshold from total
anonymity to face the nation and instantly become the country’s biggest rock
stars. That day, an everlasting impression was etched into the life of a
thirteen-year-old boy. Seeing the Mercury 7 astronauts being introduced for the
first time, none of whom he had ever heard, by an agency, NASA, that was equally
obscure, became his first life intersection of fact and fantasy.
Those were the men who would touch our imaginations and take
over the roles of science fiction characters Buck Rodgers and Tom Swift. They
would be the real life heroes who would conquer outer space and walk on the
moon. They did not disappoint. Live television coverage and film footage on the
nightly news would replace the fantasy novels with frayed covers and well worn
pages now left resting, unused, on my bookshelves.
By necessity these men were of average height and
weight–they had to fit into a small capsule to complete their missions–but in
my eyes they seemed like giants. Seeing them that day in civilian clothes was
soon far outstripped when in later photos they showed up in their space suits.
Awesome!
Scott Carpenter has died from stroke complications at 88
leaving John Glenn, oddly enough the oldest of the group, as the sole survivor
of America’s pioneer spacemen.
Carpenter was born in Boulder, Colorado on May 1, 1925. I
lived in Boulder for 25 years and had a constant reminder of the city’s native
son when passing, and often making use of, Scott Carpenter Park on the east
side of town. Upon leaving Boulder, he became a military test pilot, as were
all seven men, before becoming an astronaut. After a split with NASA, Carpenter
became an aquanaut and explored the ocean’s floor in SeaLab II in1965. He
remains the only human to witness both. Upon retirement, he returned to
Colorado and lived out his years in Vail.
Each of these originals was daring, lively, and possessed a
child’s insatiable curiosity. They had to love living life on the edge to face
the dangers of pushing the envelope of aviation during the first fifty years of
flight, but each had human frailty just the same.
Carpenter made just one trip into space and that came in May
1962 when he successfully orbited the earth three times becoming the second
human to do so after Glenn did it ahead of him. Carpenter recalls being anxious
looking straight up into space and realizing he was sitting on a Roman candle
burning at inferno temperatures propelling him into darkness and uncertainty at
warp speeds.
In later years he would speak of overcoming those fears and
in doing so, gaining the experience of seeing Earth from space and feeling the weightlessness
he called his alpha life accomplishments.
On his trip Carpenter became the first to eat solid food in
zero gravity in the form of Space Sticks. I can only imagine them as a first
attempt at granola bars.
His humanity showed on the trip when he neglected to turn
off an important switch and used up too much of his fuel before reentry. He
discovered his error when he started to return to earth and had to manually fly
the capsule to its sea landing, missing the intended target by over 200 miles.
This error caused much concern as it took nearly an hour to locate him. When
finally found, he was serenely floating in his rescue raft with his feet
propped up on the sides. He casually offered some of his Space Sticks to those
who came to pluck him out of the ocean.
This cockiness and casual attitude got him in as much hot water
as he was in salt water. He never got back into NASA’s good graces. Later, he
broke his arm in a motorcycle accident that was conveniently used as an excuse
by his bosses, and he never flew another mission.
Carpenter may be as famous for his send-off to John Glenn
when Glenn became the first to orbit the earth as he was for his own flight. As
Glenn was being thrust away from Earth’s gravity, Carpenter wished him
“Godspeed John Glenn” as a bon voyage. He didn’t coin the word, but used it
because it contained both God and speed–great speed being the primary force
needed to break our earthly bonds.
Now it is my turn. Godspeed Scott Carpenter.
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