- Title: Scott Carpenter
- Author: NASA
- Date: c.1959
- Condition: Excellent
- Inches: 4 x 5 [Photograph]
- Centimeters: 10.16 x 12.70 [Photograph]
- Product ID: 308606
Original photograph of Scott Carpenter printed by NASA.
Scott Carpenter was an American naval officer, aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut, known for being one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts selected by NASA in 1959. Born on May 1, 1925, in Boulder, Colorado, Carpenter earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Colorado and was commissioned into the U.S. Navy in 1949, serving as a surveillance pilot in the Korean War and later as a test pilot. He piloted the Mercury-Atlas 7 (Aurora 7) mission on May 24, 1962, becoming the second American to orbit the Earth; although the mission faced navigational issues, he manually guided the spacecraft to a safe splashdown in the Atlantic, 250 miles from the intended point. Carpenter retired from NASA in 1967 and from the Navy in 1969, continuing work as a consultant in oceanography, energy research, and the film industry, and remained an active lecturer and author throughout his life. He passed away on October 10, 2013, at the age of 88.