m
CARPENTER DOES IT,
ORBITS EARTH 3 TIMES
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. UP)—
Astronaut Malcolm Scott Carpenter
rocketed three times around the
earth Thursday and was recovered
safely from the Atlantic Ocean
after a frightening period of about
35 minutes when it was not known
whether he was dead or alive.
The pickup was made by a heli
copter from the aircraft carrier
Intrepid 135 miles northeast of
Puerto Rico. It was one of nine air
craft sent to the scene in an emer
gency rescue operation made neces
sary when Carpenter’s Aurora 7
spacecraft overshot its planned
landing zone.
An SA-16 seaplane arrived at the
scene before the helicopter, but
the pilot decided not to attempt
a landing even though seas were
described as calm.
Carpenter was plucked from
the sea at the end of his exciting
mission at about 3:30 p.m. (EST).
This was 2 hours and 49 minutes
after the 12:41 p.m. landing time,
and 7 hours 45 minutes after the
astronaut blasted off from Cape
Canaveral atop a mighty Atlas
missile.
The destroyer Pierce sped to
the scene to pick up the space cap
sule.
Fear for Carpenter's Life
The fear for Carpenter’s life was
precipitated when the spacecraft
missed its landing area several
minutes after tracking stations lost
radio contact with it.
From 12:41 to 1:15 p.m. there
was no word from Carpenter.
It wasn’t known whether he and
his capsule had survived the blaz
ing period of re-entry when heat
of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit
seared the heat shield at fee base1
of the vehicle.
Rapid fuel consumption in his
Aurora 7 spacecraft caused great
concern during his second orbit.
But after careful consultation with
the pilot, the Mercury control
center reported.* i ‘
“We see ho reason why he
shouldn’t continue Into the third
orbit. But we emphasize that he
limit his automatic fuel consump
The latter was an order sent
from die control center at Cape
Canaveral to the tracking station
at Foiht Arguello, Calif., for relay
to Carpenter when he passed over
head. „ '■
Officials defected fast consump
tion of die fuel shortly aft*r the
second orbit and told Carpenter to
begin u&ng his manual control
system at that time to conserve
the valuable hydrogen peroxide.
This is used to control the atti
Did Not Heat Order
Apparently he did not hear the
tion.
tude of the craft.
original order, which came from
the Canary Island tracking station,
and it had to be repeated by two
posts in Australia, Muchea and
Woomera. As he crossed the Pa
cific Ocean towards the West Coast
of the United States, Mercury of
ficials made close checks with Car
penter on the status of his fuel.
He reported there was enough
to complete a three orbit mission
and the order was given to pro
ceed. As he passed over Point
Arguello, Carpenter tolu astronaut
Alan B. Shepard Jr., who is sta
tioned there, that he again noted
“snowflakes.” He first reported
seeing them in small numbers on
the first orbit at about the same
relative time—during sunrise.
“There are more of those white
particles,” Carpenter told Shepard.
“They appear to be traveling exact
ly my speed. There’s one drifting
off and it appears to be going even
faster.
“They look exactly like snow
flakes to me.”
He said he did not see them in
the great numbers that John H.
Glenn Jr., America’s first man in
orbit, saw his famous fireflies.
Carpenter said his snowflakes were
“in a sort of rambling pattern.”
Carpenter said he also had been
getting a little warm and drank
some water over Canton Island in
the Pacific. He said it tasted “very
good.”
Faulty Switch
As he passed over Cape Cana
veral just before entering the third
orbit, he attempted to jettison a
balloon which he had towed behind
the capsule for one whole orbit.
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switch failed to operate and was
unable to release the 30-inch
sphere.
Ground technicians assured him
that the tension of the balloon
would in no way affect the mission
and that it would burn up on re
entry into the earth’s atmosphere
after the third orbit. So Carpenter
took advantage of the extended
balloon tow to take more pictures
of it.
The balloon surface was divided
into five equal sections of different
colors. The idea was to enable Car
penter to determine which color
man can best perceive in space.
The experiment could help decided
what color to paint future space
vehicles.
Performing as if he were ri#it
at home in the strafige world of
weightlessness, Caffpeftter t6Td as
tronaut Virgil I. Grissom on the
ground at Cape Canaveral that
everything was fine and he was in
excellent condition as he sailed
overhead at the end of two cffbits.
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M’LORD and LADY SHOP
COMMITTEE APPROVES
PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF
COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM
WASHINGTON UP) — The Sen
ate Commerce Committee approved
by a 15-2 vote Wednesday a bill
providing for private ownership
of the U.S. portion of a Global
Satellite Communications System.
In its provisions, the measure is
similar to one passed by the House
May 3 by 354-9 vote.
The bill provides for the crea
tion of a corporation to own and
operate a commercial system of
world - wide communications by
bouncing electronic signals off the
satellites.
Half of the corporation’s stock
would be reserved for communica
tions companies, and half would
be offered to the public. The offer
ing price of the shares could not
be more than $100.
When the measure is called up
for action in the Senate, possibly
in two weeks or so, a public vs.
private ownership fight is in pros
pect.
President Kennedy urged Con
gress to provide for private owner
ship, under government regulation,
but Sens. Estes Keafuaver, (D
Tenn.), Wayne Morse, <D-Ore.), and
others have vowed to battle for a
government ownership bill they
have introduced.
Sen. Warren Magnuson, the
Commerce Committee chairman,
said Sens. E. L. Bartlett and Ralph
Yarborough who cast the two dis
senting votes, had been given 10
days to file a minority report on
the committee’s recommendations.
The committee’s bill differs from
the House measure with respect
to the ownership of ground sta
tions for sending and receiving
signals from the communications
satellites.
A cricket an inch long can make
a chirp loud enough to be heard
a mile away.
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Olympic
Taste the
sparkling refresh
ment of nature's
finest grains
most famous
ingredient:
-Its the Water"
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Profile of Malcolm Scott Carpenter
By Howard Benedict
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. W —
When Malcolm Scott Carpenter
was selected in 1959 as one of the
seven Mercury astronauts, he was
thankful to be rescued from what
he considered a gruelling assign
ment — a two-year tour of duty
on an aircraft carrier.
On the carrier, he would face
long periods away from his family
and the disappointing prospect of
a non-flying job. The Mercury
orders arrived just two days be
fore the ship was to depart San
Diego.
When' the carrier commander
asked him what he was going to
do, Carpenter replied: “Ride the
nose cone of an Atlas three times
around the earth.”
“I remember being a little
amazed at my own words,” Car
penter said recently. “I knew little
about the program then. By now,
I know a good deal more, but the
whole idea fills me with awe.”
Carpenter, 37, a Navy lieutenant
commander, .was thrust suddenly
into the pilot role for the second
U.S. manned orbit flight last March
15 when it was disclosed that the
chosen astronaut, Air Force Maj.
Donald K. Slayton, had minor
heart trouble. Carpenter had been
backup pilot for Marine Lt. Col.
John H. Glenn Jr.’s orbital flight
on Feb. 20.
Vital Member of Team
The handsome, crew-cut Car
penter has been a vital member
of the astronaut team. His special
ty is navigation and communica
tions.
Carpenter is an exemplary citi
zen now, but it took him a little
time to find himself. He said re
cently that in his youth he was a
drifter and “sort of a no-good” in
his home town of Boulder, Colo.,
where he was born May 1, 1925.
“I didn’t study hard and I Bad
to quit high school football because
I couldn’t devote myself to learn
ing the plays,” he said. “I Stole
things from stores and I was just
drifting through, sort of a no-good.”
After high school graduation in
1543, he enlisted in the Navy and
got a start on his flying career in
the Navy V-5 flight training pro
gram.
After World War II, he entered
the University of Colorado but had
trouble adjusting and twice was I
flunked out of school.
He became a laborer in Boulder.
Ltttig afterward he had an auto
accident, which changed his whole
life. He was unconscious for four
days, arid during a two-week con
valescence in the hospital he de
cided to return to college.
He came within three credit
hours of earning a degree in aero
nautical engineering freffn Colo
rado in 194& but encountered dif
fiuity with g course in heat trans
fer. Before he could pick up the
credits he courted and married his
wife, Rene, also a Colorado stu
dent, arid rejoined the Navy.
After graduation from the Navy
test phot School in 1954, Carpen
ter began the dangerous job of
working the kinks out of some of
the Nation’s newest, fastest fight
ing planes.
Recalls Anxious Moments
Rene, a pretty blonde, recalls
some anxious moments when he
was a test pilot at Patuxent River,
Md. She said she was nervous
every time he didn’t show up at
6 o’clock sharp for dinner.
But she says they have discus
sed the dangers of his job and have
learned to live with them. They
spend little time worrying — even
about the hazards of space flight.
Carpenter and Rene are very
close and write lengthy letters to
one another when separated. He
writes in detail about his Project
Mercury work and once penned
17 pages.
Soon after he had gone to Wash
ington for one of his first brief
ings as an astronaut, Rene wrote
him: “I think you were bom for
this and God knows I’d rather
have you in space than at sea. I’m
so darn happy and proud of you.”
With four children, they have
the largest family of any of the
astronauts. The youngsters are
Mark Scott, 12, Robin Jay, 10,
Kristin Elaine, 6, and Candace
Nixon, 5. A fifth child, a 6-month
old son, died in 1951.
Green-eyed Rene, fulfilling a
long-time desire, came to nearby
Cocoa Beach with the children to
be close when Carpenter was
rocketed into space. This was the
first astronaut family to be in the
Cape area at launch time.
“There’s nothing at all like it,”
Rene says, “to stand on the beach
and see it going up — and the
prayerful attitude of the crowd.”
She said her husband wanted the
sons, Scott and Jay, to witness the
launching first-hand.
He is an Episcopalian who has
an “abiding faith which sustains
me at all times.”
Safety experts estimate that 8
million motorists habitually drive
while under the influence of liquor.
Remember Them
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