Today marks the 48th anniversary of Astronaut/Aquanaut Scott Carpenter's space flight aboard the Aurora 7 (Mercury-Atlas 7)24 May 1962. The Aurora 7 would attain a maximum altitude of 164 miles and an orbital velocity of 17,532 miles per hour. In doing so, he would become the second American to orbit the Earth and fourth American in space. His primary goal during the mission was to determine whether an astronaut could work in space, a major stepping stone towards future space missions leading to an eventual lunar landing. Scott Carpenter was also one of the "Original Seven" Mercury astronauts, serving as John Glenn's backup pilot for America's first manned orbital flight; he is portrayed in the 1983 film "The Right Stuff". Ironically, today only he and John Glenn are the only surviving members of these "Original Seven".
Two years later (1964) he would go from outerspace to innerspace when he was assigned by NASA to the SEALAB program. Originally scheduled to participate in SEALAB I, he would be unable to do so but would help in the construction and crew training for SEALAB II. In 1965 he would serve as an aquanaut/team leader (team 1 and 2) during the SEALAB II mission. During this mission he set a world record in underwater work, living for 30 consecutive days at a depth of 205 feet. At one point during SEALAB II, Carpenter participated in a conversation with fellow Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper orbiting the Earth in Gemini 5 -- the only instance in history of such an inner to outerspace conversation. He also received a congratulatory telephone call from President Lyndon B. Johnson while under decompression in the Deck Decompression Chamber (DDC) from SEALAB II.
Carpenter retired from the Navy in 1969 as a Commander, he was 85 years old 1 May 2010.