“Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth, behind John Glenn”
pitch horizon scanner, which is an essential device for navigation, had malfunctioned. Another problem was to follow when Carpenter had too eagerly used his manoeuvring jets to observe a ground flare experiment in Australia, which consequently depleted more fuel than anticipated.
This also caused heat build-up in the capsule, causing sweat to interfere with Carpenter’s vision. Unknown to anyone at this point, the timing mechanism for the retro rockets on the heatshield was also not working properly, which could potentially have proven lifethreatening upon re-entry.
With all these problems unfolding, Carpenter had no choice but to make minor re-entry adjustments to his falling capsule by manually steering the capsule and keeping the horizon in sight using his one and only window. Thankfully, Carpenter made it back to Earth, albeit 400 kilometres
(250 miles) off the predetermined landing spot. After his recovery, Carpenter was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the highest honour that NASA bestows.
After Project Mercury was closed in 1963, Carpenter became an aquanaut in the Sealab II program, and eventually went on to become executive assistant to the director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, which helped design the Apollo Lunar Landing Module.
Along with the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Carpenter gained the Navy
Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the University of Colorado Recognition Medal and the Collier trophy.
Sadly, on 10 October 2013, Carpenter passed away in Denver, Colorado, United States, aged 88. The NASA administrator at the time, Charles Bolden, said Carpenter “was in the first vanguard of our space program – the pioneers who set the tone for our nation's pioneering efforts beyond Earth and accomplished so much for our nation," following his passing.