--- title: Scott Carpenter, Astronaut in NASA Mercury program, Dead at 88 description: Scott Carpenter, one of two remaining astronauts from NASA's Mercury program and the second American to orbit the earth, died Wednesday at the age of... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7218799/astronaut-scott-carpenter-is-dead-at-88/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-10-10T21:07:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T06:10:07.921Z article:section: Science og:title: Scott Carpenter, Astronaut in NASA Mercury program, Dead at 88 og:description: Scott Carpenter, one of two remaining astronauts from NASA's Mercury program and the second American to orbit the earth, died Wednesday at the age of... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7218799/astronaut-scott-carpenter-is-dead-at-88/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt240ef716ac0c22af/6998b5a4d32e9337c8cd517c/2662427.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2279 og:image:height: 1282 og:image:alt: Scott Carpenter og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scott Carpenter, Astronaut in NASA Mercury program, Dead at 88 twitter:description: Scott Carpenter, one of two remaining astronauts from NASA's Mercury program and the second American to orbit the earth, died Wednesday at the age of... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt240ef716ac0c22af/6998b5a4d32e9337c8cd517c/2662427.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) # Astronaut Scott Carpenter Is Dead at 88 > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 10, 2013 9:07 PM UTC  American astronaut Scott Carpenter in his space suit. He is the prime pilot for the USA's second manned space orbit, launched in May 1962\. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) American astronaut Scott Carpenter in his space suit. He is the prime pilot for the USA's second manned space orbit, launched in May 1962\. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 10, 2013 9:07 PM UTC Scott Carpenter, one of two remaining astronauts from NASA’s Mercury program and the second American to orbit the earth, died Wednesday at the age of 88\. His family did not specify a cause of death, although he had been in hospice care following a recent stroke, the New York _Times_ [reports.](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/us/scott-carpenter-mercury-astronaut-who-orbited-earth-dies-at-88.html?pagewanted=1&%5Fr=0) Carpenter flew a harrowing mission around the earth in 1962 that was rife with technical and mechanical problems. For an hour after Carpenter’s landing 250 miles from his intended landing spot, the country thought he was dead. Mission Control could locate his Aurora 7 capsule, but it was not immediately clear Carpenter had survived the landing. Nobody knew he was alive until a NASA search plane spotted him in a bright orange life raft. Carpenter was part of NASA’s initial project to send a manned aircraft into orbit around the earth — dubbed Project Mercury — and served as the backup astronaut for John Glenn, who became the first American to do so. It was Carpenter who said the famous phrase, “Godspeed John Glenn” when he served as Glenn’s Capsule Commander during the mission. Carpenter was also a major character in Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book, _The Right Stuff_, as well as in the subsequent movie. Carpenter was also the only astronaut to also become an aquanaut, and spent a month living and researching on the ocean floor in 1967. In his book of reflections an the early astronauts, Carpenter wrote that he decided to volunteer because, “I thought this was a chance for immortality. Pioneering in space was something I would willingly give my life for.” \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/us/scott-carpenter-mercury-astronaut-who-orbited-earth-dies-at-88.html?pagewanted=1&%5Fr=0)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7218799/astronaut-scott-carpenter-is-dead-at-88/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7218799/astronaut-scott-carpenter-is-dead-at-88/"},"headline":"Astronaut Scott Carpenter Is Dead at 88","datePublished":"2013-10-10T21:07:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T06:10:07.921Z","description":"Scott Carpenter, one of two remaining astronauts from NASA's Mercury program and the second American to orbit the earth, died Wednesday at the age of...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7218799/astronaut-scott-carpenter-is-dead-at-88/","keywords":["Astronaut","mercury"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt240ef716ac0c22af/6998b5a4d32e9337c8cd517c/2662427.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt240ef716ac0c22af/6998b5a4d32e9337c8cd517c/2662427.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Scott Carpenter","caption":"Scott Carpenter","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7218799/astronaut-scott-carpenter-is-dead-at-88/","name":"Astronaut Scott Carpenter Is Dead at 88"}}]}] ```