AstronautIn 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7. He made 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 hr 54 min of flight time. Shortly afterwards, he also became an aquanaut. In summer 1965, he participated in the Navy's Sealab II program off the coast of La Jolla, California. 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 ft. |
