posted March 01, 2006 12:43 PM               

But I'll ask him.

Thanks for the thought.

posted March 01, 2006 06:12 PM               

I agree, why not have a website for Scott Carpenter? It can not only cover his career in the astronaut corp, but also his career with the Sealab project. I myself having met Mr. Carpenter on 3 occasions and would love to see a site just for him.

Cheers,
Alex.

posted March 01, 2006 09:32 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by SCE to AUX:
The public has spoken!

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posted March 02, 2006 09:27 AM               

What purpose would a DP website serve?

I suppose I could be the Rob of the site, and moderate a modest discussion board, on behalf of the old man.

Then there are the autograph and book signing requests. My problem here is the commercial aspect, as I understand that most astronauts sign for a fee now, including the DP.

I suppose the site could be divided into commercial and historical/personal interest sections . . .

posted March 02, 2006 09:41 AM               

• Biography (mostly for the kids looking for help with their reports)
• Photo gallery (the higher the resolution, the better, but the rarer the shot - especially the personal snapshots, the more appreciated)
• Forum or frequent user-submitted Q&A (interaction with the site's focus separates a fan site from an official one
• Sightings (go ahead, make my life easier )
• Blog (this didn't exist during AaA's time, but today, any sort of journal, the more frequent the better, is highly desired)
• Favorite links
• Store (autographs, books, memorabilia, etc.)

Otherwise, the simplest and easiest of all sites would be a blog, but that depends on Carpenter's interest in sharing his day-to-day or week-to-week reflections, memories, experiences, etc. with the public at large.

posted March 02, 2006 09:59 AM               

The first thing that comes to mind regarding your first question (What purpose would a DP website serve?) is the fan aspect.

There is no forum for fans of your Dad and researchers (enthusiasts, school kids) to get the DP's take on his fascinating life and career.

The second thought is 3 words... Marketing The Book!

Whether or not you have the time to moderate a message board for the DP's site is up to you. Do the other astronauts have one? how active is it? cS is a pretty good forum for discussion... your call!

The e-commerce aspect can get a little tricky. If you want to sell merchandise including credit card validation and inventory tracking, you're gonna need a full-blown e-commerce solution, either out-of-box or custom developed it's gonna take some upfront and incremental money.

If you would like to simply charge a fee for signings, you might want to consider using PayPal to simplify the transaction process. There will still be some admin needed to be done by someone though. It's a balance question of volume sold vs. hours of admin.

I have to admit, I am surprised at the end of the pool you choose to jump in, but it's exciting that you understand the components and what this thing could become.

There are a couple "first steps" you need to do even before deciding what direction the site should go. I would be happy to help.

posted March 02, 2006 10:02 AM               

Can you provide server space and a virtual host if the DP were to get his own DNS? If so, it's just a question of design/programming!

posted March 02, 2006 10:18 AM               

I can keyboard pretty well, and manage rudimentary HTML but putting together a website will be a huge technical undertaking for me.

I'll see the DP for the AHOF gala weekend, and we will have time to hash some of this stuff out. In the meantime, I think I'll send him a link to this thread so he can ponder.

posted March 02, 2006 10:36 AM               

Most astronaut websites don't have a forum, if only because this tends to be a full time job to monitor.

Also, the site doesn't need to have an autograph request section, shopping cart, automated checkout etc etc. All this stuff can be complex and may be unnecessary.

If you want to give details on getting stuff signed it can be as simple as saying he will be appearing at the following autograph shows, or you could give a contact address if you wanted to.

posted March 02, 2006 11:03 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by KC Stoever:
I can keyboard pretty well, and manage rudimentary HTML but putting together a website will be a huge technical undertaking for me.

---

posted March 02, 2006 05:31 PM               

Look, and all joking washed, folded and put away your father has plenty to say to us today.

posted March 02, 2006 06:20 PM               

His epigrammatic reply?

The DP DN (Does Not).

Harrumph.

I will press the issue, though. I think he could not argue with a modest site, with FAQs, a solid bio, and his public schedule.

I hear you, Duke, on the fencing pics. I'll ask carmelo to dig some out if I can't locate any.

posted March 02, 2006 06:43 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by SCE to AUX:
How about showing him a design idea, would that stir something.

---

It worked when I pitched the book idea.

"But, Dad, We can write about Grandpa Noxon,!"

Little did he suspect we'd spend two chapters on Aurora 7.

posted March 02, 2006 06:51 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Duke Of URL:
Just get a couple 'o' nerds and tell them how many girls they'll meet running an astronaut's web site.

---

I was just on the phone with Rene, talking with some admiration about MOONDUST. The author sent her a copy. I should start a thread on Smith's conclusions about the space program, which I thought were startling and true.

posted March 02, 2006 07:01 PM               

Kris. I hear ya and I will back-off, but please feel free to contact me if there is anything I can do to help! However, you might wanna tell the DP it's not often you're offered free web hosting, design and programming.

posted March 02, 2006 07:10 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by SCE to AUX:
it's not often you're offered free web hosting, design and programming.

---

On edit: Gus and his urine jug at Lovelace!!

That is Bob Solliday's story. Solliday is the only other Marine, besides Glenn, in the 1959 selection--a full decade younger than John and younger still than even Conrad.

posted March 03, 2006 11:17 AM               

But his paternal grandmother is descended from the prolific Landis clan of Swiss-German Mennonites that in the early 18th century settled in Pennsylvania (where they are sometimes called the Pennsylvania Dutch, or German) alongside Quakers and other pietists and Anabaptists. Landises moved west through Ohio and Illinois, and by the middle of the 19th century were settling Madison County, Iowa, parts of Kansas, and of course Colorado.

The Sollidays too were Pennsylvania Mennonites, IIRC, and Solliday too counts Landises among his forebears. All Landises descend from a group of brothers who emigrated to America together after the Protestant authorities in Geneva executed the senior Landis (Hans) for heresy.

posted March 03, 2006 08:40 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by KC Stoever:
So that's how they're related.

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posted March 04, 2006 11:03 AM               

I've been to Rehoboth, Mass., recently -- beautiful farmland with lots of ancient graveyards and even a Carpenter museum. Spiritually, it's more closely related to Providence than to Boston.

George W. Bush and Scott Carpenter are both direct descendants of a prolific Carpenter couple from the 17th century, Benjamin and Renew (Weeks) Carpenter. Bush through a series of daughters. Carpenter, naturally, through sons.

posted March 04, 2006 11:46 AM               

Now that this thread has kinda turned into a "FSS" conversation. I wonder if you would be so kind as to give me your thoughts on a couple questions:

First, In your research, did you get a sense of how the actual "tone" of the conversation between the DP and Wally went upon informing him that Deke's flight was now his. Wally briefly describes with facial responses in Turner's "Moon Shot"? Was there a "falling-out" or did Wally and the DP remain friendly?

second, Did the naming of the DP's capsule (Aurora) orginate from the DP's interest in the celestial aspect of space flght, or was it inspired by the cross street he lived on in Boulder?

Thanks, BTW not to "blow smoke" but your insight adds alot to this board, and is greatly appreciated.

posted March 04, 2006 01:02 PM               

The Schirras did not live on base. Only the Coopers and Carpenters did. So Trudy Cooper and Rene Carpenter often ran an informal transport service on behalf of the farther-flung Mercury wives/moms who had driving chores of their own.

On this day in March, I believe two things happened. One, Rene had volunteered to pick Wally up at the airfield. Two, the Carpenters were having friends and neighbors over for drinks--it had been planned for over a week and was not in any way celebratory or related to the news that MA-7 was now Scott's to fly.

So Wally hears a snippet of news aboard the airplane, flying in to Langley. He asks Rene about it in the car, when she picks him up. She confirms the news. Then he and Scott discuss it at the Carpenters that evening, a little while later.

I was only six at the time and don't remember. But Wally and I did email back and forth on the subject, and he admitted to being pretty sore. He was the alternate. He should have gotten the flight. Now, however, Wally was condemned to having to hear Scott playing that *&^%$#@! "Yellow Bird" on the guitar for another friggin' three months.

Second question, the capsule name, Aurora 7. Carpenter will tell you, and interviews from 1962 confirm this, that he wanted a name with celestial significance, and which also resonated with the classical names and themes then being evoked: Mercury, Apollo, Atlas--Aurora.

Boulder native Scott Carpenter did grow up in an east-facing house at Aurora and 7th, from 1927 to 1941. Before the (non-native) shade trees grew to block out the high plains to the east, you could watch the dawn come up (Aurora = goddess of the dawn).

I can tell you, however, having read my father's Korean war correspondence, that Carpenter's patrols of the Soviet coast near the North Pole meant that he often witnessed the Aurora borealis. The sight stunned him and, I think, filled him with a kind of wonder.

So three things, I believe, went in to the decision: it sounded pretty and resonated with a classical theme he likes (dawn of the space age), it had celestial significance, and it reminded him both of home and of his awe-inspiring northern patrols. Interesting,isn't it, that he chose a feminine name, in the lost tradition of naming ships after women?

posted March 04, 2006 08:47 PM               

From what I have seen of Wally on film, he seems to have an even temperament and a great sense of humor. (you bet your sweet a$$ he's a turtle) I'm sure he wasn't upset for long, especially since there wasn't much time to hold a grudge between flights in those days. BTW, Wally is a NJ guy, I'm wondering how many "Joisey" boys were astros. Can't count Bud in, even though he kinda had a Jersey connection with Delawanna.

You're right, the origin of the capsule names is fascinating. I once read that they all attached the number 7 to thier nicknames to follow Shepard's lead, but Shepard's capsule was actually the 7th built during the Little Joe testing phase. This history is loaded with stuff like this, and therefore fascinating!

posted March 04, 2006 09:15 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by KC Stoever:
What was his offense, if you don't mind my asking?

---

posted March 04, 2006 09:21 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by KC Stoever:
The Sollidays too were Pennsylvania Mennonites

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posted March 05, 2006 10:06 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Duke Of URL:
Mennonites are Anabaptists - like the Chaplin in "Catch-22" - and from the same stock as the other Pennsylvania "Plain People".

---

Have you read ALBION'S SEED, by David Hackett Fischer? Brilliant work on the four original subcultures of British North America, one of them the Pietist/Anabaptist one. On edit: Their descendants are the ones who usually show up for antiwar demonstrations. They in turn are showered with abuse by the descendants of the Ulster Scots . . .

Not many Americans appreciate Eisenhower's deeply ingrained (Mennonite) pacifism. The West Point commission was his best friend's idea. "Swede" Hazlitt left Kansas for Annapolis and encouraged Eisenhower to follow him. Ike went to West Point instead.

posted March 05, 2006 10:46 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by SCE to AUX:
I'm sure he [Wally] wasn't upset for long, especially since there wasn't much time to hold a grudge between flights in those days.

---

posted March 05, 2006 01:29 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by KC Stoever:
...as Glenn's backup for MA-6, had no flight of his own, so he had really only one focus.

---

posted March 05, 2006 04:47 PM               

The last movie of the "Shaft" series was "Shaft In Nebraska", released in 1994 after "Shaft", "Shaft In Africa" and the 1990 movie showing his precipitous decline with age, "Shaft On Welfare". Glen Campbell did the score.

It got me to thinking that maybe the Dynamic Pioneer might need his OWN theme song. I wouldn't even know who to suggest. William Hung? Nah. Scott Carpenter was, from all accounts, the best dancer among the Mercury Guys. And not a chick singer, either. No offense, but I heard Bjork sing "Satisfaction" once and wanted to sell my ears. Once burned, twice shy.

For various reasons we can cross off The Stones, Neil Young, Prince, Little Richard, Barry Manilow, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg or Vanilla Ice. I toyed with the idea of Freddie Mercury - Mercury, get it? - but thought, "Nah."

posted March 05, 2006 07:49 PM               

But what about Sun Ra? He did "Space Is The Place" "Nubians Of Plutonia" and "The Sattelites Are Spinning".