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  Scott Carpenter and 1963 lunar orbit simulation

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Author Topic:   Scott Carpenter and 1963 lunar orbit simulation
moorouge
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Posts: 2458
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 06-16-2015 11:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for moorouge   Click Here to Email moorouge     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I've recently come across an article that describes a lunar orbit simulation in 1963 that was designed to show that it was possible for a lunar module to rendezvous with the command module using only its landing radar and the skill of the astronauts onboard. This was to be their only help as it was assumed that all communications with Mission Control had been lost.

The four astronauts involved showed that it was perfectly feasible to achieve this. Two of those involved flew the actual lunar module, one making the first landing on the moon. One tragically died before he flew a space mission and the fourth was Scott Carpenter.

With this experience behind him, might Carpenter have been on a lunar mission had his motor cycle accident not robbed him of his flight status?

calcheyup
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Posts: 125
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Registered: May 2014

posted 06-16-2015 11:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for calcheyup     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
We all know the story of how Kraft vowed Carpenter would never fly in space again, but the question for our resident Deke Slayton experts would be, did he feel the same way about him? Furthermore, was going to the moon the foremost goal that Carpenter had? It seems to me, judging by what he did even as a NASA astronaut (leaving to train for Sealab) that he was a man of many interests and passions. I don't know, personally; that's a question for someone who knows more about Carpenter than I do.

However, even if the answer to those is "no," and "yes," respectively, and Slayton would have put him in the rotation for Gemini, how he performed and trained for those assignments would have definitely affected a possible lunar mission. Gordon Cooper, for one, played his way out of a lunar landing mission. So much could have happened in six years that it's impossible to speculate on what would have happened, even if he was uninjured and in the flight rotation for the beginning of Gemini.

All times are CT (US)

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