posted 06-13-2021 11:59 AM               

Space Cover #612: Scott Carpenter and Aurora 7

Scott Carpenter, 1925-2013, was one of the seven Mercury Astronauts and on his only spaceflight, Mercury-Atlas 7 in 1962, became the second NASA Astronaut to orbit Earth. During his time with NASA, he spent 30 days on the ocean's floor in SEALAB II during the US Navy's "Man-in-the-Sea" program, thus achieving the unique distinction of being both an astronaut and aquanaut.

As the capcom for John Glenn's MA-6 first US orbital spaceflight, Carpenter, wishing Glenn good luck, made his famous "Godspeed, John Glenn" comment at the moment of Glenn's Atlas liftoff.

Carpenter's problem-marred MA-7 three-orbit flight aboard spacecraft Aurora 7, unfortunately is chiefly remembered for a 250 mile overshoot of the splashdown target area and for some time there was serious concern that he may have been lost.

The top cover above, autographed by Carpenter, pictures him in the cachet and is canceled for his MA-7 launch. The bottom cover, with an "Orbit" descriptive cachet, is also autographed by Carpenter and canceled for his launch.

This is a USS Intrepid Captain's cover, the MA-7 Prime Recovery Ship, and was obtained in 1980 from early collector E.V. Smith. It was originally from pioneer collector Donald O. Schultz and an almost identical cover is pictured in his "Project Mercury... One Step Into Space" booklet, one of three such space cover reference booklets by Schultz on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. These excellent reference booklets would be of use and interest to any serious space cover collector, but are long-since out-of-print.

posted 06-13-2021 02:47 PM               

Scott Carpenter was the first astronaut I ever met, and first autograph I ever got. He spoke in St. Louis in 1982. I had just gone full-tilt into space cover collecting about a year before and had just gotten my first MA-7 cover, a PAFB postmarked SCC (below) in the Space Unit Auction. Word came out about Carpenter’s talk just a few days ahead of time. So, I raced down to the local stamp shop to see if they had any other MA-7 covers. Well, all they had was one postmarked on the USS Alstede (not part of the recovery fleet) and one postmarked in Viet Nam for the flight.

So, I took all three to Carpenter's talk. I was impressed that the bulk of his talk focused on how we needed to get young people interested in science and math (this was long before STEM was a buzzword). He was a very kind, gracious man who patiently answered all questions (including the perennial "How do you go to the bathroom in space?") and signed until everyone had left. As you can see, I still have that signed SCC and won't ever let it go. The other two covers seem to have wandered off over the years.

posted 06-13-2021 03:44 PM               

Carpenter's famous quote, "Godspeed John Glenn," had been followed by an earlier remark from General Dynamics' Tom O'Malley, the Atlas rocket's chief engineer test conductor. O'Malley had pushed the launch sequence "start" button while inside Pad 14's blockhouse for Glenn's MA-6/109D launch vehicle liftoff on that history-making February-winter morning day.

When initiating the launch countdown right before liftoff, O'Malley added a personal prayer to Glenn, "May the Good Lord ride all the way" to which Carpenter added, "Godspeed John Glenn."

Glenn's fellow and backup Mercury astronaut later explained that he came up with the phrase on the spot, but it did hold significance for most test pilots and astronauts of that era.

In those days, Carpenter explained, "speed was magic... and nobody had gone that fast. If you can get that speed, you're home free." But Glenn himself never heard the Capcom's comment until he had returned to Earth. Due to a glitch in Glenn's radio, Carpenter's microphone wasn't on his frequency.