Word: astronaut
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...held its breath when Alan Shepard led the way into space. It suffered anxiety as Gus Grissom swam for his life in the Atlantic. It thrilled to the historic adventure of John Glenn. Now, as Astronaut Malcolm Scott Carpenter, 37, a wiry, laconic Navy lieutenant commander, hurtled three times around the earth, there was interest, but little of the intense excitement that had focused on previous flights. The nation seemed to be getting sophisticated about space travel-until, at the end, a harrowing, wildly suspenseful 57 minutes showed just how thin the veneer of sophistication...
...automatic control systems was only 45% full. Flight Director Christopher Columbus Kraft ordered Carpenter to start flying the capsule by the manual control system, which uses a separate fuel tank. As Carpenter approached California, Kraft decided that there was still enough fuel for a third orbit. But he told Astronaut Shepard at the microphone in the tracking station at Point Arguello: "We still want to emphasize to him to limit his auto fuel usage...
...crisis came on the third orbit. Project communicators, listening intently to Carpenter's voice as he passed overhead, were disturbed by his tone. "We feel the astronaut was acting somewhat tired during the last pass," the Woomera station later reported. Added the station at Kauai, Hawaii: "We had the impression that he was very confused about what was going on, but it was very difficult to assess whether he was confused or preoccupied...
Says Dr. William Douglas, the astronauts' personal physician: "Carpenter's extreme simplicity sometimes gives the impression that he is bordering on immaturity. In fact, I would call him the least mature of the astronauts. I don't mean that he is callow or adolescent. He obviously couldn't be an astronaut if that were true. But his motivations are essentially simple and uncomplicated. He is interested chiefly in three things: his job, his family, and in keeping his body in top physical condition...
When their second child, Timmy, died at six months in 1951, the tragedy brought the devoted couple even closer together. But when Carpenter was first called to compete for assignment as an astronaut, Rene gave him all her encouragement. At one point, after Carpenter was assigned to sea duty, she got word that he would have to tell Washington immediately if he wanted to continue in the space-training program. Without hesitation, Rene accepted on his behalf...