‘Right Stuff’ astronaut Scott Carpenter coming to O.C.

July 1st, 2009, 6:00 am · 2 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor

Image courtesy on NASA.

Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven Project Mercury astronauts who was lionized in Tom Wolfe’s book, “The Right Stuff,” will co-host a public panel discussion on space during a July 11 visit to South Coast Plaza.

Carpenter, 84, is scheduled to appear at 3 p.m. with Thomas Stafford, who flew during Project Gemini and looped around the moon during Apollo 10, and with former Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon.

The free public discussion will occur in South Coast Plaza’s Jewel Court.

Carpenter's space capsule Aurora 7

All three astronauts are famous. But Carpenter, the second American to orbit the Earth, became an icon of America’s hopes to explore the final frontier, which was then dominated by the Soviet space program. The astronauts were considered to be courageous men, especially since many of this country’s first unmanned rockets blew up or failed during flight. Carpenter’s own flight, which began on March 24, 1962, was not without its own controversy. The 4 hour 39 minute flight ended with Carpenter overshooting his ocean splash down by about 250 miles. (The controversy.)

Correction notice: In the first version of this story, I incorrectly reported that Carpenter was the second American in space. He was the second to orbit Earth, but the fourth American to go into space.