10 OCT--This Day in US Military History

2015-10-10T13:48:52-04:00

2013 – Navy CMDR Scott Carpenter, Mercury 7 astronaut and second American to orbit the earth, dies at 88 following complications from a stroke.

Malcolm Scott Carpenter (born May 1, 1925) was an American test pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA’s Project Mercury in April 1959. Carpenter was the second American (after John Glenn) to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space, following Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn. After being chosen for Project Mercury in 1959, Carpenter, along with the other six astronauts, oversaw the development of the Mercury capsule. He served as backup pilot for John Glenn, who flew the first U.S. orbital mission aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962. Carpenter, serving as capsule communicator on this flight, can be heard saying “Godspeed, John Glenn” on the recording of Glenn’s liftoff.
When Deke Slayton was withdrawn on medical grounds from Project Mercury’s second manned orbital flight (which Slayton would have named Delta 7), Carpenter was assigned to replace him. He flew into space on May 24, 1962, atop the Mercury-Atlas 7 rocket for a three-orbit science mission that lasted nearly five hours. His Aurora 7 spacecraft attained a maximum altitude of 164 miles (264 km) and an orbital velocity of 17,532 miles per hour (28,215 km/h).
In July 1964 in Bermuda, Carpenter sustained a grounding injury from a motorbike accident while on leave from NASA to train for the Navy’s SEALAB project. In 1965, for SEALAB II, he spent 28 days living on the ocean floor off the coast of California. During the SEALAB II mission, Carpenter’s right index finger was wounded by the toxic spines of a scorpion fish. He returned to work at NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, then returned to the Navy’s Deep Submergence Systems Project in 1967, based in Bethesda, Maryland, as a Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III. In the aftermath of aquanaut Berry L. Cannon’s death while attempting to repair a leak in SEALAB III, Carpenter volunteered to dive down to SEALAB and help return it to the surface, although SEALAB was ultimately salvaged in a less hazardous way.
Carpenter retired from the Navy in 1969, after which he founded Sea Sciences, Inc., a corporation for developing programs for utilizing ocean resources and improving environmental health.

https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/october-10/

October 10

10 October 680 - Imam Hussein, grandson of prophet Mohammed, was beheaded. He was killed by rival Muslim forces on the Karbala plain in modern day Iraq. He then became a saint to Shiite Muslims. Tr...

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Oct 10 at 2015 1:49 PM

2015-10-10T13:49:52-04:00

1SG Private RallyPoint Member thanks for the historical perspective. Sweet!

Response by 1stSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2015 2:29 PM

2015-10-10T14:29:17-04:00

Carpenter almost died that day.

Response by MAJ Keira Brennan made Oct 11 at 2015 2:37 PM

2015-10-11T14:37:13-04:00

A GREAT DAY in History!