Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter Dies At 88

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Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter Dies At 88

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 10, 2013 @08:58AM from the above-below-and-beyond dept.

schwit1 writes "M. Scott Carpenter, whose flight into space in 1962 as the second American to orbit the Earth was marred by technical glitches and ended with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a landing far from the target site, died on Thursday in Denver. He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America's original space program, Project Mercury." NASA has a nice biography of Carpenter, too, and scottcarpenter.com has much more besides.

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Don't forget SEALAB! by Major+Blud · 2013-10-10 09:14 · Score: 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg0pMbc7Opk

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1. Re:Don't forget SEALAB! by kLimePie · 2013-10-10 11:30 · Score: 1
  
  This is noted in the official NASA biography:
  
  Scott Carpenter, a dynamic pioneer of modern exploration, has the unique distinction of being the first human ever to penetrate both inner and outer space, thereby acquiring the dual title, Astronaut/Aquanaut.
  Before I did a quick Wiki lookup on the word aquanaut, I thought he was the first astronaut who knew how to swim. Apparently you need to dive deeper and longer to qualify for the distinction of being an aquanaut, just as you need to fly up a certain number of km's to be considered an astronaut.
  On a side note, it appears that certain NASA web sites are still operational despite the US government shutdown of non-essential facilities.
Run-on sentence summary by omnichad · 2013-10-10 09:23 · Score: 4, Funny

The run-on sentence in the summary makes it hard not to read it like he's been missing since 1962 and just now found.
1. Re:Run-on sentence summary by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-10 09:40 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  What you are noticing is the low levels of education and intelligence on the part of all the Slashdot editors.
  That run-on summary was plagiarized directly from the New York Times article. Blame Richard Goldstein for it's creation. Slashdot only falsely attributes it to "An anonymous reader". Which is very unprofessional, but at least they didn't create or edit it.
2. Re:Run-on sentence summary by KiloByte · 2013-10-10 10:03 · Score: 1
  
  What you are noticing is the low levels of education and intelligence on the part of all the Slashdot editors.
  This used to be a good website, but now it is a pathetic joke.
  You should take a look then how the competition regressed. Slashdot, with its flaws, slowly becomes the only readable tech news website left (all others need at least filtering). Editors don't do their job, yeah, but comments from the community fix their errors immediately.
  And as "everything used to be better in the past", that's nothing new, just browse some writings of Roman authors. But then, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
  
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3. Re:Run-on sentence summary by bigwheel · 2013-10-10 10:15 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  "What you are noticing is the low levels of education and intelligence on the part of all the Slashdot editors."
  What we are noticing is the laziness of some ACs, who criticize the wording of the summary without even reading the first sentence of TFA.
  Odd as it may seem, some of us read /. for the content, and can overlook a few grammatical errors.
4. Re:Run-on sentence summary by Longjmp · 2013-10-10 10:23 · Score: 1
  
  And as "everything used to be better in the past", that's nothing new, just browse some writings of Roman authors. But then, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
  Everything was better in the past, even the future!
  
  --
  There are fewer illiterates than people who can't read.
5. Re:Run-on sentence summary by BancBoy · 2013-10-10 10:57 · Score: 1
  
  But then, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
  That's not the way I remember it...
  
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  [UID-HeinzIntel]
6. Re:Run-on sentence summary by mschuyler · 2013-10-10 12:38 · Score: 1
  
  Um: "For its creation." Don't blame me; I'm just living up to my sig.
  
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  How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
7. Re:Run-on sentence summary by demonlapin · 2013-10-10 14:37 · Score: 1
  
  It is not a run-on sentence, merely a complex one.
Who's left besides John Glenn? by Animats · 2013-10-10 09:32 · Score: 1

Glenn is still alive. Who's the other one?
1. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by Antipater · 2013-10-10 09:37 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Nobody. The summary is wrong; Glenn is the last.
  
  --
  Everything is better with chainsaws.
2. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by Animats · 2013-10-10 09:38 · Score: 2
  
  Misread the article. It's just Glenn now, the last of the Original Seven human astronauts.
3. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by The+Grim+Reefer · 2013-10-10 09:53 · Score: 1
  
  Misread the article. It's just Glenn now, the last of the Original Seven American astronauts.
  FTFY
4. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by CohibaVancouver · 2013-10-10 10:00 · Score: 1
  
  It's just Glenn now, the last of the Original Seven American astronauts.
  "American" is redundant. "Astronaut" implies American. The other men in space in the sixties were "Cosmonauts."
5. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-10 10:01 · Score: 1
  
  Misread the article. It's just Glenn now, the last of the Original Seven American astronauts.
  FTFY
  Soviet spacemen were known as "confidants" rather than "astronauts".
6. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by The+Grim+Reefer · 2013-10-10 10:03 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America's original space program
  The summary was correct, just poorly written. He was one of the two surviving.
7. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by camperdave · 2013-10-10 10:10 · Score: 1
  
  The other men in space in the sixties were "Cosmonauts."
  Perhaps, but were they friends?
  
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8. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by The+Grim+Reefer · 2013-10-10 10:58 · Score: 1
  
  It's just Glenn now, the last of the Original Seven American astronauts.
  "American" is redundant. "Astronaut" implies American. The other men in space in the sixties were "Cosmonauts."
  "Human" is also redundant. I don't recall the monkey being referred to as an astronaut either.
9. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by BancBoy · 2013-10-10 10:59 · Score: 2
  
  Thank you! You are truly a friend and a cosmonaut!
  
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  [UID-HeinzIntel]
10. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by CohibaVancouver · 2013-10-10 11:45 · Score: 2
  
  The other men in space in the sixties were "Cosmonauts."
  oops...That should have read The other men AND WOMAN in space in the sixties were "Cosmonauts."
11. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by _merlin · 2013-10-10 14:01 · Score: 1
  
  At the risk of being modded off-topic, nick nick you've got there.
12. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by wonkey_monkey · 2013-10-10 20:57 · Score: 1
  
  "Astronaut" implies American.
  No, it implies (and probably not exclusively) that they come from an English-speaking nation. There are Canadian astronauts and British astronauts.
  
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13. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by wonkey_monkey · 2013-10-10 21:15 · Score: 1
  
  nick nick you've got there.
  You need to lay off the marriage-uana, young man.
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
14. Re:Who's left besides John Glenn? by CohibaVancouver · 2013-10-11 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  No, it implies (and probably not exclusively) that they come from an English-speaking nation. There are Canadian astronauts and British astronauts.
  In the sixties (context of this thread and article) there were no English-speaking space explorers who weren't American. So "Astronaut" remains correct.
A sad day by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-10 09:33 · Score: 5, Funny

Your famous landing on Mercury will never be forgotten, Mr. Carpenter.
God speed by dlt074 · 2013-10-10 09:39 · Score: 5, Insightful

God speed Sir. Thank you for your service.
Number two by justthinkit · 2013-10-10 09:43 · Score: 1

Buzz. Time's up!

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Another of my heroes gone :( by p51d007 · 2013-10-10 09:57 · Score: 1

And now there is only one left. Growing up in the early 60's, every kid wanted to be an astronaut. I just wish I still have my GI-Joe Friendship 7 space capsule, box & record...they are worth a bunch now LOL. God speed Scott Carpenter!
When We Left Earth by DCstewieG · 2013-10-10 10:00 · Score: 5, Interesting

If you have Netflix streaming (or want to go through some hassle), check out When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. Absolutely fantastic documentary on the space race and the way I recently learned about his landing. For reasons outside my control, I was not alive until many years later.
I totally get the conspiracy theories about a fake moon landing. I know we did it. But looking up at the moon, it's hard to believe it.
1. Re:When We Left Earth by Stormwatch · 2013-10-10 10:33 · Score: 2
  
  It's hard to believe that men went to the moon because they don't go anymore. It's hard to believe that such knowledge, such infrastructure, such willingness to fund science, existed just a few decades ago and is now gone.
  
  --
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2. Re:When We Left Earth by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-10 10:48 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Oh man, that's naive. Funding science had nothing to do with going to the moon. It had everything to do with beating those darn commie Russkies. I can guarantee you, without the Cold War, we'd still be wondering when some one would ever go to the moon.
3. Re:When We Left Earth by CRCulver · 2013-10-10 12:20 · Score: 1
  
  Besides the other poster's point about the Space Race being more about beating the Russkies than love of science, retreating from human spaceflight is a prudent decision anyway. Let's focus on research here on Earth to boost computing power and innovate new materials. Then, after the Singularity, we can send our machine descendents to explore the cosmos instead of human beings that require a whole biosphere to be sent with them.
4. Re:When We Left Earth by mschuyler · 2013-10-10 12:44 · Score: 2
  
  Sure we could, but if you use that attitude about everything, nothing would ever get done unless it passed some bureaucrat's idea of "practical and prudent."
  Besides, that's just a fucking boring attitude.
  
  --
  How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
5. Re:When We Left Earth by CohibaVancouver · 2013-10-10 13:54 · Score: 1
  
  Funding science had nothing to do with going to the moon. It had everything to do with beating those darn commie Russkies.
  Sure there was some of that, but there was also very much a 'we can do anything attitude' back then that seems to be mostly gone, other than in niches like iPad development. China is surging ahead of the USA and there isn't any national drive to beat them at anything...
6. Re:When We Left Earth by R3d+M3rcury · 2013-10-10 14:06 · Score: 1
  
  Sure there was some of that [...]
  No, it was entirely that. What can we do in space to beat the Russians?
7. Re:When We Left Earth by AmiMoJo · 2013-10-10 23:24 · Score: 1
  
  It's hard to believe they could have faked it. Other countries were monitoring the radio communications from the CM and LMs, and would have said something if they didn't appear to be coming from the moon. The USSR in particular had no reason to cover up for the Americans.
  Say they sent unmanned missions instead then. We know they got to the surface because the intact remains can be seen on photos taken by other countries who, again, have no reason to lie. Even so, deploying certain experiments like the retro reflectors would have been tricky. Not impossible, but far from trivial. Keeping the development of such technology secret would be been almost impossible.
  Long story short, it is really hard to see how it could have been faked even if they had wanted to. At the time sending humans to do all that stuff would have been easier.
  
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8. Re:When We Left Earth by khallow · 2013-10-11 01:40 · Score: 1
  
  Then, after the Singularity, we can send our machine descendents to explore the cosmos instead of human beings that require a whole biosphere to be sent with them.
  Assuming we're still around to act in any sort of capacity.
Re:Who was the second guy on the moon? by Longjmp · 2013-10-10 10:30 · Score: 1

Louis Armstrong! He even wrote a song about it.

(I think I'm really bored today)

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He flew into space in a beetle-sized capsule by WillAffleckUW · 2013-10-10 11:38 · Score: 5, Insightful

Basically, this guy flew into space in something the size of a VW Beetle.
Think about that.
No guts.
No glory.
He had both.

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1. Re:He flew into space in a beetle-sized capsule by ColdWetDog · 2013-10-10 14:12 · Score: 1
  
  And with less computational power than the digital display on an FM radio in a Beetle.
  Think about that.
  
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  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
2. Re:He flew into space in a beetle-sized capsule by demonlapin · 2013-10-10 14:41 · Score: 1
  
  There's nothing particularly remarkable about flying into space in a small capsule.
  
  What's impressive is that he did it while that capsule was strapped to the top of a not-especially-reliable missile.
3. Re:He flew into space in a beetle-sized capsule by root_42 · 2013-10-10 23:53 · Score: 1
  
  Is it really the size of a VW beetle? At Kennedy Space Center they have a mockup, which I think is accurately sized. Including a seat, in which you can sit. I didn't fit, because, I was too tall -- at 1.80m! That thing was tiny. Really tiny!
  
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4. Re:He flew into space in a beetle-sized capsule by khallow · 2013-10-11 01:43 · Score: 1
  
  What's impressive is that he did it while that capsule was strapped to the top of a not-especially-reliable missile.
  Ok, why is that more remarkable than flying into space? It just means a greater tolerance for risk. Base jumpers and people who climb Mount Everest have that too.
5. Re:He flew into space in a beetle-sized capsule by WillAffleckUW · 2013-10-11 05:59 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly - the capsule is the size of a VW Beetle - but has less legroom than the old one.
  
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Re:TIL we landed on mercury by Deadstick · 2013-10-10 11:53 · Score: 1

Welcome to Colorado.
I was born in the year he went to space. by ralphaostrander · 2013-10-10 12:12 · Score: 2

It is a sad reminder to me how sands of time remain in my own hour glass. I am entering the stage where it seems everyone I looked up to or work/arts I enjoyed has passed.
When I pay taxes by speedlaw · 2013-10-10 14:16 · Score: 1

I always hope I bought a bolt on the international space station.....but I'm afraid I paid a millionaire agribusiness not to grow food. Sometimes, in and amongst all the nonsense, waste and cynicism, something good happens. Thank you Scott, for showing us what CAN happen.
Spam by capt_mulch · 2013-10-10 16:28 · Score: 1

Spam in a can! I had to make that joke. This guy was a serious legend for me - it was one of those names I memorized as a space geeky ten year old in the early seventies. Vale sir.
Re:if you shit or piss on the moon by nitehawk214 · 2013-10-11 02:29 · Score: 1

Yes, there is currently crap on the moon.

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Buzz Aldrin wasn't one of the original seven... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · 2013-10-11 02:38 · Score: 1

Buzz wasn't selected until 1963, as part of the 3rd group of astronauts.
The last survivor of the original 7 is John Glenn...

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1. Re:Buzz Aldrin wasn't one of the original seven... by justthinkit · 2013-10-11 09:49 · Score: 1
  
  The question I answered was in the subject line of my parent poster -- "Who was the second guy on the moon?"
  
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