Scott Carpenter with John Glenn just before the launch of Aurora 7. Credit: NASA
Fifty years ago today, May 24, 1962 astronaut Scott Carpenter launched in his Aurora 7 capsule. This was the fourth manned mission and the second orbital flight of the Mercury program. This video celebrates the Aurora 7 flight, which successfully made three Earth orbits. But a targeting mishap during reentry took the spacecraft about 400 km (250 miles) off course, delaying recovery of Carpenter and the capsule. Carpenter was picked up after nearly 3 hours in the water, and the Mercury capsule was not retrieved until about 6 hours later.
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