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”.