Carpenter becomes fourth American in space

Scott Carpenter

On May 24, 1962, Scott Carpenter flew his five-hour Project Mercury space mission, becoming only the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth in space.  Although space flight was hardly routine (as modern space shuttle launches seem to have become), Carpenter’s mission was certainly less dramatic than its predecessors.   By this time, the "Space Race" was among the country's most prominent topics.  We need a little more background, however, to have the full picture of this dramatic competition on the day Carpenter blasted-off.

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin:  On 12 April 1961, the Soviet Union won the race with the United States to get a human into space, when Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit around the Earth. Cosmonaut means "sailor of the universe". Gagarin orbited the Earth for 108 minutes.  When the flight was publicly announced, it was celebrated around the world as a great triumph, not just for the Soviet Union, but for the world itself, though it once again shocked and embarrassed the United States.

President Kennedy: On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. A number of political factors affected Kennedy's decision and the timing of it. In general, Kennedy felt great pressure to have the United States "catch up to and overtake" the Soviet Union in the "space race."  Gagarin’s successful flight had greatly embarrassed the U.S. 

President Kennedy issuing moon-landing challenge

The Cold War context: In addition, the Bay of Pigs fiasco in mid-April put immeasurable pressure on Kennedy. He wanted to announce a program that the U.S. had a strong chance at achieving before the Soviet Union. Thus the cold war is the primary contextual lens through which many historians now view Kennedy's speech.  As one historian put it, scientists may have been the fathers of modern space exploration, but ‘the competition between capitalism and communism was its midwife.’  

Mercury Astronauts (Carpenter third from left)

Project Mercury:  The three phases of the United States’ effort to achieve Kennedy’s moon landing goal were the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.  Project Mercury was the first American human spaceflight program, running from 1959 through 1963. In the first Mercury mission on 5 May 1961 (one month after Gagarin’s flight), Alan Shepard became the first American in space.  Following Gus Grissom’s suborbital flight on July 21, 1961, on February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American (third overall, following Gagarin and Cosmonaut Gherman Titov) to reach orbit.  Scott Carpenter’s flight was the fourth.  In total, the Mercury Program included 20 unmanned launches, followed by two suborbital and four orbital flights with astronaut pilots.

William E. Burrows, This New Ocean, "The Other World Series", p. 147; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office, http://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html; Wikipedia – “Scott Carpenter”, “Project Mercury”, “Space Race”.

Space - 1958-1960

Since I’m starting this blog roughly 25% through the decade, a certain amount of catching up is required.  Conscious of the need to keep these musings short enough to be interesting, I’m going to split them up.  Apologies for breaking up the chronology.

One of the great themes of the 1960s was the “space race.”  It’s hard, fifty years later, to understand the fascination that practically all Americans had for space exploration at the time.  I distinctly remember being allowed to go late to school so I could watch early lift-offs on live TV broadcasts.  For the adults of that time, it was tied up with the fear and combativeness of the Cold War (which we’ll discuss at length later) and the pride they felt in a country that had won World War II and could do anything.  For the kids like me, it was just really exciting and interesting.  NASA had a great public relations department at the time, and anyone could write and ask for free material.  My wall, and many of my friends’, was plastered with NASA pictures of astronauts, rockets, etc.

So, to set the stage: 

Sputnik

After World War II, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union used German scientists and their captured rockets in programs for both military and civilian research.  The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik 1 ("Satellite 1") mission on October 4, 1957. The small satellite had two radio transmitters which emitted "beeps" that could be heard by radios around the globe. This success led to an escalation of the American space program, which unsuccessfully attempted to launch a Vanguard satellite into orbit two months later. On January 31, 1958, the U.S. successfully orbited Explorer 1.  In the meantime, the Soviet dog Laika became the first animal in orbit on November 3, 1957.

Sputnik surprised the American public, resulting in a “wave of near-hysteria”.  Not only did Sputnik shatter the perception of the United States as the technological superpower and the Soviet Union as a backward country, the satellite's launch also evoked fears that the Soviets in space would put the U.S. territory at their mercy.  It forced the Americans to take a more offensive stance in the emerging space race, resulting in an emphasis on science and technological research and reforms in many areas from the military to education systems.  The federal government began pouring unmatched amounts of money into science education, engineering and mathematics at all levels of education.  (Shamelessly plagiarized from Wikipedia)

By the end of 1960, no human had yet gone into space, but that (and much more) was to change in 1961.  Stay tuned ....

Marilyn Monroe sings "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy

FIFTY YEARS AGO - One of the truly iconic (and frivolous) moments of the early 1960s was Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday" to President John Kennedy at a Democratic fundraiser in Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962.  It was Kennedy's 45th birthday.  There have been persistent rumors for the last fifty years about an affair between Marilyn Monroe and Jack Kennedy, but never more than rumors. 

Less than three months later (August 5, 1962), Marilyn committed suicide with a drug overdose.  Her story really belongs in the 1950s, with famous movies like  How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), and The Seven Year Itch (1955), and marriages to baseball star Joe DiMaggio and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Arthur Miller.  Still, the scene reflects the transition from the 1950s, and reminds us that, unlike some 1960s personalities that have been exaggerated over the last 50 years, Marilyn was really larger than life in her own lifetime.