Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

Exploring the Unknown 231
Source: NASA Collection, University of Houston, Clear Lake Library, Clear
Lake, Texas.
On 24 May 1962 Scott Carpenter flew Mercury Atlas-7 on a three-orbit flight that paralleled
the John Glenn mission of the previous February. During Carpenter’s second orbit he took
manual control of the spacecraft and made changes to the capsule’s orientation by movements
of his head and arms. He also over-used his attitude control jets and ran short of fuel. This
and a mis-timed reentry burn resulted in his spacecraft overshooting the planned landing
point by 250 miles. This caused major delays in the water recovery of Carpenter and his
Aurora 7 capsule and a nationwide concern for the astronaut’s safety. Many people criticized
Carpenter’s performance on this flight. Chris Kraft, senior flight controller and later director
of the Manned Spacecraft Center, blamed Carpenter for the poor reentry and worked to ensure
that he never flew in space again. Others were more charitable, concluding that monitoring
fuel consumption should be done by Mission Control. This debriefing presents Carpenter’s
assessment of what had taken place. It was only the beginning of several reviews of less
than stellar in-flight performance that embarrassed the astronaut and eventually led to his
departure from NASA in 1965.
[CONFIDENTIAL] [DECLASSIFIED]
[Only Section 3 of report provided]
[3-1]
3.0 SHIPBOARD DEBRIEFING
3.1 Introduction
The following is an essentially unedited transcript of the self-debriefing
of Astronaut Carpenter which he conducted shortly after arriving onboard the
recovery aircraft carrier, Intrepid. This shipboard debriefing consists of the pilot’s
general impressions of the flight from lift-off to the beginning of the retrosequence.
From that point through normal egress of the pilot from the spacecraft, the pilot
describes his activities in considerable detail.
3.2 Shipboard Debriefing
I would like to give a good debriefing at this point while the events of the
flight are still fresh in my mind. I will be able to cover only the high-points. I can
not really do the flight justice until I review the voice tape to refresh my memory.
As a whole, I was surprised that the sensations at lift-off, and throughout
the launch phase, were as slight as they were. In retrospect, it was a very, very short
period. As a matter of fact, the whole flight was very short. It was the shortest five
hours of my life.
My general impression of the flight right now is that I am happy to be back.
I feel that I brought back some new information. I hope that the pictures turn
out because they are photographs of truly beautiful sights. I think that the MIT