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05/11/2003 Archived Entry: "Scott Carpenter, (former) NASA Astronaut (and Aquanaut)"

Scott Carpenter, (former) NASA Astronaut ( and Aquanaut). According to NASA Biographies -- one of the original seven Mercury Astronauts, served as backup pilot for John Glenn during the preparation for America's first manned orbital space flight.

Carpenter flew the second American manned orbital flight on May 24, 1962. He piloted his Aurora 7 spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth, reaching a maximum altitude of 164 miles. The spacecraft landed in the Atlantic Ocean about 1000 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral after 4 hours and 54 minutes of flight time.

On leave of absence from NASA, Carpenter participated in the Navy's Man-in the-Sea Project as an Aquanaut in the SEALAB II program off the coast of La Jolla, California, in the summer of 1965. During the 45-day experiment, Carpenter spent 30 days living and working on the ocean floor. He was team leader for two of the three ten-man teams of Navy and civilian divers who conducted deep sea diving activities based in a sea floor habitat at a depth of 205 feet.

He returned to duties with NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned Spaceflight Center and was active in the design of the Apollo Lunar Landing Module and in underwater extravehicular activity (EVA) crew training.

In 1967, he returned to the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project (DSSP) as Director of Aquanaut Operations during the SEALAB III experiment. (The DSSP office was responsible for directing the Navy's Saturation Diving Program, which included development of deep-ocean search, rescue, salvage, ocean engineering, and Man-in-the-Sea capabilities.)

As a consultant to sport and professional diving equipment manufacturers, he has contributed to design improvements in diving instruments, underwater breathing equipment, swimmer propulsion units, small submersibles, and other underwater devices.

his first novel entitled "The Steel Albatross." It has been dubbed an "Underwater Techno-thriller" and deals with the impact of advanced diving and medical technology on deep sea and submarine combat.