Talk:Scott Carpenter

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I feel this page could use more information on Carpenter's later career, after retiring from the astronaut corps. Willy Logan 04:00, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] References?

What edition of For Spacious Skies is being referenced in this article (i.e., reference to "p. 97" of the book)? Willy Logan 14:23, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Ah. It's the hardcover edition. Willy Logan 21:23, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Emphasis

"Nevertheless, after Carpenter's troubled Mercury mission, head of flight operations Christopher Kraft wrote he "swore an oath that Scott Carpenter would never again fly in space. ... He didn't."^[1] Carpenter, in turn, responds at length and in detail to the criticism of his spaceflight in his 2003 autobiography."

Delete for a few problems here: Kraft wrote a very nice NASA report on Carpenter after Carpenter's mission. In 1962. In 2002 he wrote something else entirely. So Kraft writing "after Carpenter's troubled Mercury mission" is a dubious statement of fact. He wrote in 1962. And he wrote in 2002. He wrote an official report in 1962, with citations. And then he wrote a memoir in 2002, with none.

To continue, it is not a consensus view (nor was it at the time) that the flight of Aurora 7 was "troubled." The consensus view is that the flight of Aurora 7 was merely dramatic and that, despite the drama, it confirmed U.S. capabilities in manned spaceflight.

So one should want to see substantiation for "a troubled flight" and Kraft's dispositive oath from the pertinent ca. 1962 NASA publications and from contemporaneous newspaper accounts.

In other words, an overshoot, traceable to a mechanical malfunction, is one thing. But "troubled Mercury mission"--without explanation--is too broad a brush and irresponsible on its face.

Second, yes, Christopher Kraft swore during Carpenter's reentry, in something of a lather, "That [s.o.b.] will never fly for me again." Please see THE RIGHT STUFF and various memoirs by eyewitnesses. The anecdote presents POV problems.

The Kraft POV is that the fourth American in space was heedless of Mercury Control, might die during reentry, and therefore should "never fly in space again." The NASA POV is that Kraft was excitable, during an exciting reentry, and placed the blame, not on the intermittent mechanical failure that he and others failed to note, but on the man in the capsule now controlling reentry on manual. The Carpenter POV is, "Of course autopilot failed. We trained for that failure. That's why it's manned spaceflight. When automatic systems fail, we're here to make everything ok." A Wiki entry should seek to balance these different POVs. Either that, or just report the facts.

Yes, it's complicated.

In any event, it's clear: Carpenter sustained a grounding injury in July 1964, before even Project Gemini assignments were made.

[In the NASA history office files, archivists filed: “Motor Bike Spill Fractures Arm of Astronaut,” Baltimore Sun, July 17, 1964. The corrective surgery afterwards was also in the papers (“Gamble on Survey [sic: Surgery] Fails to Put Carpenter in Space,” Washington Star, April 17, 1967.] —Preceding unsigned comment added by KC Stoever (talk • contribs) 05:05, 16 October 2007 (UTC)