Scrapbook 2: May 1962 — Scott Carpenter, Titan, animals

Cape Canaveral, May 24

Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm Scott Carpenter, the second United States astronaut to complete three orbits of the earth, was rescued from the sea tonight after almost three hours in a life raft. For about forty minutes planes and ships had searched frantically for the capsule in which Commander Carpenter made his flight.

He was estimated to have “splashed down” at 6.41 p.m. BST but his capsule overshot by about 200 miles the planned landing area. Trackers had lost contact with the capsule as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere, but after half an hour’s silence, in which the tension mounted here, signals were picked up by a searching plane from the capsule’s automatic beacon. Then came the first sighting report.

Colonel John Powers, Project Mercury press officer, announced: “A Navy Neptune has reported sighting the spacecraft floating in the landing area. Alongside it was a liferaft, and sitting in it was a gentleman named Carpenter.”

When a helicopter finally reached the spot to take Commander Carpenter to the aircraft carrier Intrepid, he told his rescuers: “I am feeling fine.” Doctors who examined him said later that his condition was good.

News of the successful recovery was telephoned to President Kennedy in Washington, who issued the following statement:

“The American people will be gratified by the successful orbital flight of Lieutenant-Commander Scott Carpenter and his subsequent rescue. The skill and initiative of those who participated in the rescue of Commander Carpenter, coupled with Commander Carpenter’s courage is heartwarming to all of us.”

It was stated at Cape Canaveral tonight that the fact that the spacecraft landed 200 miles from the planned recovery area may have been due to one of two causes: (1) in order to conserve his dwindling fuel supply Commander Carpenter pointed the capsule in “too shallow” an altitude towards the earth during re-entry; (2) the firing time of the retro-rockets might have been miscalculated. Officials said that a difference of one second in timing would make a difference of 30 to 40 miles in the landing spot.

Survival package

Commander Carpenter had a survival package with him consisting of liferaft, desalting kit, shark repellent, dye-markers, first aid kit, portable radio, whistle, signal mirror, and food.

The astronaut began his flight (1.45 p.m. BST) after the smoothest countdown in the history of the Mercury programme, but at one stage officials feared that it might be necessary to end the flight after the second orbit because fuel for the control system was running low.

The fuel consumption rate which worried officials was of hydrogen peroxide squirted out in jet form from small nozzles around the capsule. If the capsule shifts off course, the jets fire to bring it back to its proper relationship with the horizon. The astronaut can control the attitude of the capsule by using his manual controls to fire these jet streams.

The capsule was over Australia when the astronaut was warned about the fuel situation and he switched to manual control. After he was told that if the fuel level dropped any lower the flight would be ended, Commander Carpenter replied: “I’ll be sure to stay on manual.” Mercury officials later decided to go for three orbits in spite of the fuel position.

Commander Carpenter experienced difficulties as he travelled round the earth at 17,532 miles an hour. He also noticed the “space fireflies” observed by both John Glenn and Gherman Titov—and carried a camera specially to photograph them. At the end of his first orbit he reported seeing small particles—“It could be a light snowflake,” he said.

Ground stations momentarily lost Commander Carpenter as he passed over the Atlantic 99 miles out in space, but within minutes he was talking to the station in the Canary Islands, off the West Coast of Africa.

As he was approaching Muchea, in Western Australia, about 50 minutes after the launching, he reported that his space suit had heated up to 82 degrees Fahrenheit. He was given medical advice to limit his bodily movements until it cooled down. He tried to lower the temperature by adjusting the controls on the capsule’s cooling system.

Later he reported that his suit temperature was down to near normal and he would eat his “midnight snack” shortly. He said he had “paused for a moment to pick up a washer out of the air” as it floated weightless in the cabin.

Commander Carpenter ate some chunks of compressed food as he swept across Australia and reported to Woomera that eating solid food in space presented “no problem at all,” although some of the food crumbled a bit in the cockpit. He also found no difficulty in drinking after, and he planned to take further drinks later in his mission.

The Muchea station told the astronaut that the flare experiment at Woomera had been cancelled because of heavy cloud cover over Australia.

Balloon experiment

As he began his second orbit, he pressed a switch to release a multicoloured balloon 30in. in diameter on the end of a 100ft. nylon rope. The aim of this experiment was to learn what colours are most distinguishable in space. He reported: “The balloon is out. It is waving out in the back.” It was swinging at the rate of about once a minute or minute and a half. The astronaut trained his pistol-grip camera out of the window and said he had got pictures of the balloon.

As he neared Cape Canaveral Commander Carpenter reported that his condition remained good, and medical data received here showed that his blood pressure, which had crept up a little, had gone down.—Reuter and British United Press.

THE only British component in the Aurora 7 space craft, which carried astronaut Scott Carpenter three times round the earth yesterday, played a vital part in his rescue.

It was a tiny rescue radio transmitter, installed to give his position if he “ditched” far from waiting ships.

The transmitter, called Sarah, is made by a London firm—Ultra Electronics, of Acton.

“The system consists of miniature radio receivers and batteries carried in the space suit or inflated jacket, and a miniature receiver,” said a company spokesman.

“Directional aerials can reach the signals from the transmitter at 60-miles range.”

Dinghy tests

The man whose name is on the patent of Sarah is 41-year-old bachelor David Kerr, one of the engineering team which produced it. He tested it in a dinghy in Norwegian fiords.

The Sarah sets cost between £80 and £100. Batteries cost between £15 and £20. And the receivers which can pick up signals from any transmitter can be fitted for under £1,000.

Official American reaction last night: “It took us to the exact spot — almost miraculous.”

Carrier Fires Missile

ROOSEVELT ROADS, P.R. (Special)—The super carrier Constellation became the first aircraft carrier in history to fire a Terrier guided missile while engaged in shakedown training here.

ATLAS LAUNCHED

An Atlas intercontinental missile was launched yesterday on a 4,000-mile flight along the Pacific missile range, it was announced at Vandenberg Air Base, California.—Reuter.

—A Titan ICBM was destroyed in a blast as its silo exploded at a Chico, Calif., missile complex. Seven workmen were hospitalized with smoke inhalation. Ffity-two others were treated for inhalation. The blast occurred as contractors were running a test before turning the base over to the Air Force.

BALLOON IN SPACE

From Our Own Correspondent WASHINGTON, Sunday.

Another communications satellite, a space balloon 135ft in diameter, will be tried out at Cape Canaveral this week. It will be sent 950 miles above the Atlantic before dropping back into the atmosphere, where it will burn up from friction.

RADIATION TEST

Two monkeys and four hamsters, drifting by balloon high over Canada, are due to be recovered by plane in the Edmonton area of Alberta to-day. The balloon was launched from Goose Bay, Labrador, to test the effects of primary cosmic radiation on the animals.—Reuter.

ANIMALS DEAD IN SPACE CAPSULES

PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatchewan, Monday.

Two rhesus monkeys, four hamsters and a swarm of beetles in capsules were dead after a two-day high altitude research flight over Canada. The capsules were released by parachute last night from a balloon which carried them from Labrador to Saskatchewan.

A spokesman said the animals’ death was caused by failure of the “life support” system in the capsules. This included air conditioning, temperature and oxygen.—Reuter, BUP.

MOON MAP

First of series

A GEOLOGICAL MAP 100,000 square miles of the moon will be published to-morrow by the United States Interior Department’s geological survey unit. It is the first of a series being prepared for the National Aeronautical and Space Agency and shows the features of the Kepler crater region.

The features include rimmed craters generally believed to be the result of meteorite impact, low dome-shaped features believed to be of volcanic origin, and fractures radiating from the Mare Imbrium.