Scott Carpenter, Mercury Astronaut Who Orbited Earth, Dies at 88 | Hacker News Reader

Scott Carpenter, Mercury Astronaut Who Orbited Earth, Dies at 88

nytimes.com

96 pointsjmadsen18 comments

If you ever get the opportunity, go to an air and space museum and try to get a look at a Mercury capsule if you have one.

It's basically a trashcan with a person inside, stuck atop an ICBM. Pretty rad.

I've never seen a Mercury capsule, but the most striking thing to me is its small size [1]. I know that the flight duration was quite short (longest was 22hrs) but the thing is tiny and there is basically no extra interior space.

Gemini was slightly bigger [2], but I'm always amazed that the Gemini 7 crew spent fourteen days in a space about as large as the front seats of a compact car.

Exceptional people.

[1] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Mercury-s...

[2] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Gemini_sp...

Gemini was actually more cramped than Mercury. It had 160% the habitable volume of Mercury, but twice the crewmembers.

Gemini was known as the Gusmobile, because Gus Grissom basically lived at McDonnell during its development and tailored the design to his own preferences. And really tailored. Because Gus Grissom was the shortest astronaut at 5'5" (1.65 meters), Gemini turned out to be uncomfortable for everyone else.

Yes, it really is both an awe inspiring and also terrifying sight to think these guys actually sat in there. Looking at it I was reminded of Alan Shepards famous quote when he was asked what was going through his mind just prior to launch; "the fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder". That is bravery on a scale I cannot even begin to contemplate.

I had a day and a half off in DC this week during a business trip, my first visit since grade school. Of course all the museums and monuments are closed due to the shutdown, and who knows when I'll be back.

When I saw it, I was struck with how primitive it looked inside. The same for the Apollo capsule.

Too sad.

Just want to say that the mentioned book "The Right Stuff" exists also as a 3 hours movie from 1983. You'll find it on youtube, too (two parts). I really recommend this movie to everyone who's into spaceflight. Full with details and beauty, a true homage.

OMG it just sank in that there are people who might be too young to know that movie exists. Yes! See it as soon as you can. It's a beautiful dramatization of the early days of space exploration, with Bill Conti's perfect soundtrack.

Fun Fact for Hipster Youth:

Zooey Deschanel's parents are both involved in the film. Her father Caleb Deschanel was cinematographer and her mother Mary Jo played Annie Glenn (her role is remarkable because she portrays Annie Glenn with a severe stutter.)

The 1994 PBS documentary /Moon Shot/ is not bad either.

The discovery documentary "when We left Earth" is excellent and features a lot of interviews of the original astronauts.

If you like this kind of thing I highly recommend Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth.

Both the book and the movie are fantastic on their own, but I also think the movie is the best film adaptation of a book (in terms of effectiveness and fidelity).

The most famous of the seven Mercury astronauts, John Glenn, is now the only survivor. As the article kindly submitted here reports, Scott Carpenter was the only astronaut who was also (later) a deep-sea explorer, living at depth in Sealab for a month. These were the childhood heros of most Americans in my Baby Boom generation.

If you get the chance to meet any of these guys - grab it with both hands. I've recently met Al Worden (CMP Apollo 15) and Charlie Duke (10th man on the Moon). Tonight I'll be meeting Alan Bean (4th man on the Moon), and already getting excited.

These guys are amazing. Both Charlie Duke and Al Worden were absolute gentlemen, with fascinating stories, and intriguing insights.

OK, so I'll be just one of a few hundred people in the audience, but it makes the history come to life, and serves as a reminder that there are people who did, and others who are still doing, amazing things.

Aspirational and inspirational.

Did these guys ever exercise more control over the "spaceship" than the various primates and the Soviet space dogs we've put to orbit? Don't get me wrong, they were heroic and all that cause unlike Laica they knew exactly what they were getting into, I am just wondering .. For instance, could they do something wrong and crash the damned thing?

A minute of weightlessness... :-(

This PBS documentary has some extra explanation as to why Carpenter only got one flight that only seems to be be hinted at in the NYT story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jia78xRMTEc#t=3303

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