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| 1 | Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper). |
| 2 | Inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1981. |
| 3 | Inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990. |
| 4 | At time of his death, Carpenter was survived by his fourth wife Patty Barrett and seven children from his three previous marriages: Marc Scott, Kristen Elaine, Candace Noxon, and Robyn Jay from his first marriage to Rene Price; Matthew Scott and filmmaker Nicholas Andre (Nicholas Carpenter) from his second marriage to Maria Roach; and Zachary Scott from his third marriage to Barbara Curtin. He had no children from his fourth marriage to Patty Barrett. He was also survived by two stepchildren and six grandchildren. |
| 5 | His second wife, Maria May Roach (Maria Roach), was the daughter of the famous Hollywood producer Hal Roach, making their son Nicholas Carpenter the third generation involved in the film business. |
| 6 | On April 30, 2009, astronauts Robert L. Crippen and Carpenter visited the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida to pay tribute to the chimps who paved the way for the United States' successful missions into space and to acknowledge the chimps' contributions to the space program. Save the Chimps was established in 1997 in response to the U.S. Air Force's announcement that it was getting out of the chimpanzee research business. In 1999, Save the Chimps was awarded permanent custody of 21 chimps, survivors and descendants of those captured in Africa in the 1950s and used by the Air Force as test subjects for the original NASA space program. This event marked the first time astronauts visited the sanctuary. Carpenter remarked that he had a "great deal of respect for space travelers more senior than I, and I have a great respect for the species that did it first". |
| 7 | He attended the Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1954 and was subsequently assigned to the Electronics Test Division of the Naval Air Test Center, also at Patuxent. In that assignment he flew tests in every type of naval aircraft, including multi- and single-engine jet and propeller-driven fighters, attack planes, patrol bombers, transports, and seaplanes. |
| 8 | Carpenter was active in the design of the Apollo Lunar Landing Module and in underwater extravehicular activity (EVA) crew training. |
| 9 | Upon retiring from the Navy in 1969, after twenty-five years of service, Carpenter founded and was chief executive officer of Sear Sciences, Inc., a venture capital corporation active in developing programs aimed at enhanced utilization of ocean resources and improved health of the planet. In pursuit of these and other objectives, he worked closely with the French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and members of his Calypso team. |
| 10 | Carpenter dived in most of the world's oceans, including the Arctic under ice. |
| 11 | As a consultant to sport and professional diving equipment manufacturers, he contributed to design improvements in diving instruments, underwater breathing equipment, swimmer propulsion units, small submersibles, and other underwater devices. |
| 12 | Carpenter was interested in the problems of biological pest control and the production of energy from agricultural and industrial waste. He was instrumental in the design and improvement of several types of waste-handling and waste-transfer equipment. |
| 13 | Carpenter was a consultant to industry and the private sector on the topics of aerospace and ocean engineering. |
| 14 | International lecturer on the history and future of ocean and space technology, and the impact of scientific and technological advance on human affairs. |
| 15 | Carpenter was an avid skier on the slopes in his home of Vail, Colorado. |
| 16 | Carpenter hosted and narrated several television documentaries. He also appeared as television spokesman for many major corporations, including General Motors (Oldsmobile), Standard Oil of California, Nintendo, and Atari. |
| 17 | Carpenter served as actor and consultant to the film industry in the fields of space flight, oceanography, and the global environment. |
| 18 | Carpenter's awards include the Navy's Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Navy Astronaut Wings, the University of Colorado Recognition Medal, the Collier Trophy, the New York City Gold Medal of Honor, the Elisha Kent Kane Medal, the Ustica Gold Trident, and the Boy Scouts of America Silver Buffalo. He has been awarded seven honorary degrees. |
| 19 | He was the fourth American in space. |
| 20 | Son of research chemist Dr. M. Scott Carpenter and Florence Kelso Noxon Carpenter. |
| 21 | He attended the University of Colorado from 1945 to 1949 and received a bachelor of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. |
| 22 | Carpenter was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1949. He was given flight training at Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas, and designated a Naval Aviator in April, 1951. |
| 23 | During the Korean War, he served with patrol Marine Observation Squadron 6, flying anti-submarine, ship surveillance, aerial mining, and ferret missions in the Yellow Sea, South China Sea, and the Formosa Straits. |
| 24 | 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 in a sea-floor habitat at a depth of 205 feet. Having penetrated both inner and outer space, he acquired the dual title, Astronaut/Aquanaut. |
| 25 | Named his Mercury spacecraft "Aurora 7". |
| 26 | Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper). |
| 27 | American astronaut, formerly a naval test pilot, lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, antisubmarine patrol pilot during the Korean War, and air intelligence officer on the USS Hornet. |
| 28 | Assigned to make the second manned orbital flight (May 24, 1962, Cape Canaveral, Florida). He enjoyed two orbits but on the third, he erred on re-entry into the atmosphere. His capsule Aurora 7 overshot the impact area and hit the Atlantic Ocean 138 miles northeast of Puerto Rico, 250 miles beyond where it was to have landed. Carpenter was out of range of radio communication with Cape Canaveral and remained "lost" for about 45 minutes. A Navy plane rescued him in good physical condition. President John F. Kennedy told Carpenter, "We are relieved and very proud of your trip," and Carpenter apologized for "not having aimed a little bit better on re-entry." |
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