Remembering Astronaut Scott Carpenter's dramatic NASA career

NASA Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter speaks during an unveiling ceremony of two USPS stamps that commemorate and celebrate 50 years of US Spaceflight and the MESSENGER program during an event, Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

M. Scott Carpenter, whose 1962 spaceflight nearly ended in disaster, died at age 88 yesterday [THURS] in Denver. Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth - after John Glenn - in a mission that suffered technical glitches and an uncertain landing 250 miles off target.

M. Scott Carpenter, whose 1962 spaceflight nearly ended in disaster, died at age 88 yesterday in Denver. Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth - after John Glenn - in a mission that suffered technical glitches and an uncertain landing 250 miles off target.

Carpenter's actions that day and those of NASA's mission control stoked controversy for decades and served as fodder for the famous novel and film "The Right Stuff." Carpenter's ocean explorations were also a significant accomplishment.

In 1965, he spent a month living and working on the ocean floor at a depth of 205 feet off the coast of San Diego with the Sealab project. What do you remember about Carpenter’s contributions to space and ocean exploration?

Guest:

Tom Jones, Former NASA Astronaut & a Planetary Scientist; Jones flew on four space shuttle missions to Earth orbit; the last, in 2001, included three spacewalks to install the American Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station