posted 05-10-2017 09:20 PM               

Scott Carpenter Analog Station

After months and months of prep work, searching for replacement parts, re-building or fabricating various parts, the Scott Carpenter Analog Station is finally finished and ready to head back to the Space Foundation's Discovery Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where it will be put on permanent display.

The submersible laboratory was commissioned by NASA and named after Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter. After his Mercury flight in 1962, Carpenter became involved in underwater exploration. It was used on two missions in 1997 and 1998 on the seafloor near Key Largo, Florida.

After Carpenter's passing in 2013, the seafloor research station was given to the Space Foundation, which in turn hired the Southern Colorado Space Museum to restore it.

The restoration project was spearheaded by Steve Janssen, curator of the museum, and Dick Wood, vice president of the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, with generous help from volunteers from the Westcliffe, Colorado area, including David Miller, Rick Castor, Kyle Carroll, Marty Gassaro and Jeff Ivy. Over 500 hours of work went into the restoration project.

"We are very pleased with the results and honored to have been able to work on this one of kind historical artifact," said Janssen.