- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (Sep 6 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0151004676
- ISBN-13: 978-0151004676
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.1 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 680 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#555,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #49 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Astronauts
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
M. Scott Carpenter was America's fourth man in space, his 1962 three-orbit mission in a tiny Mercury capsule closely paralleling that of John Glenn's previous mission. But that's where the similarities end: a malfunctioning navigational system caused Carpenter to splash down, dangerously, some 250 miles off-target, and Glenn's fame would somehow forever eclipse that of all seven of his fellow original astronauts combined. This memoir, penned in conjunction with Carpenter's daughter Kris, oddly distances itself from Carpenter's life through use of a third-person narrative (only the astronaut's calm account of his perilous mission is delivered directly in his voice), a device that ultimately echoes the more personal distances Carpenter endured in his own fateful, if troubled, journey toward the stars.
While Carpenter may have been able to trace his lineage back to the Plymouth colony of the 1630s, his immediate family seemed shattered. His research-chemist father was successful but absent, his mother often a bedridden invalid. Carpenter's journey to the Mercury program after a Rocky Mountain childhood and a stint on lumbering Naval patrol planes is one of the more unlikely of the original astronaut class, and he offers up his own perspectives on what has become a compelling body of American folklore (thanks largely to Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff and the memoirs of other participants). While the account of NASA's infancy seems quaint, its officialdom often comes off as nothing short of cutthroat, perhaps inspiring the pioneering spaceman to the book's final adventures exploring a distinctly different frontier--the bottom of the ocean--as part of the Navy's endurance-minded SeaLab program. --Jerry McCulley
From Publishers Weekly
Amid a flurry of recent accounts of the early days of the U.S. space program, astronaut Carpenter and Stoever, his daughter, weigh in with a biography (most of it written jarringly in the third person) of the fourth American in space. While a good deal of factual information about Carpenter's life is presented, there is very little probing beneath the surface. Perhaps the most controversial material is Carpenter's discussion of the specifics of his three-orbit flight on May 24, 1962, which ended with the American public not knowing for hours whether Carpenter and his Mercury capsule Aurora 7 had survived re-entry. His take is very different from that offered last year by Chris Kraft (Flight: My Life in Mission Control). While the former mission controller claims that Carpenter "malfunctioned," Carpenter argues that he fulfilled his tasks admirably despite a series of mechanical failures on board the capsule. The third person voice is lively if not compelling, and though there is not very much new information about the early days of NASA here, one can get a flavor of the times and a sense of the people responsible for bringing America into the space age. Pictures not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
ON A SUMMER DAY in 1927, Dr. M. Scott Carpenter stepped out of a New York taxicab onto the sidewalk outside Grand Central Station. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
ON A SUMMER DAY in 1927, Dr. M. Scott Carpenter stepped out of a New York taxicab onto the sidewalk outside Grand Central Station. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Provides the Mercury astronaut's account of life at NASA,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut (Hardcover)
In 1962 the spacecraft Aurora 7 carried Carpenter into space and into history: For Spacious Skies provides the Mercury astronaut's account of life at NASA, from how selections were made and how astronauts received training to the flight which made him the second American to orbit the earth. Any interested in space travel or early NASA history will find this autobiography fascinating.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Outstanding ... One of the Best!,
By Space Program Veteran (Cape Canaveral, FL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut (Hardcover)
Having just finished reading a train wreck (aka Tom Stafford's almost incomprehensible "We have Capture") and with lingering memories of Gordo Cooper's bizarre & error-filled "Leap of Faith", I wasn't holding out much hope for Carpenter's book ... I couldn't have been more wrong."For Spacious Skies" written by Scott Carpenter and his daughter Kris Stoever is the most intensely personal and one of the best-written of the astronaut biographies - ranking right up there with Collins' "Carrying the Fire" and Cernan's "Last Man on the Moon." Carpenter's unusual childhood - a combination of a very ill mother and an absentee distant father - is covered in painstaking detail through amazing collection of personal letters and recollections. Carpenter also provides great insight into the Mercury astronaut selection process and details the impact of 'sudden fame' on the astronauts' families. Of interest to space scholars is Carpenter's account of the sudden-grounding of Deke Slayton resulting in his (Carpenter's) unexpected elevation to flight status - over the strenuous objections of a less-than-pleased Wally Schirra. Unfairly dismissed as a 'lightweight' by many of his colleagues for his near-disasterous Mercury mission, Carpenter sets the record straight. He outlines the myriad of problems and hardware failures during his 1962 mission and their impact on his flight - for instance, the cabin temperature in his spacecraft exceeded 100 degrees F during most of his flight. He also blows holes in the long-standing myth propogated by Flight Director Chris Kraft that Carpenter somehow 'bungled' his flight and refocuses much of the blame back on Kraft himself. "For Spacious Skies" is detailed enough for space enthusiasts but, more importantly, the book is an intriguing personal portrait that will fascinate casual readers as well. Highly recommended!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth Reading,
By
This review is from: For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut (Hardcover)
If you're interested in the early days of NASA and the story behind the original seven astronauts, then you'll want to read this book. Told only as an insider can do, For Spacious Skies is a worthy addition to the books written by the other original astronauts.Scott Carpenter and his daughter Kris Stoever do a masterful job of pulling together a story much larger than the book that tells the story. From Scott's early days growing up in a home situation not considered normal for the time, to his early days in the Navy and then his application and acceptance into the astronaut program, the book is filled with insights and eye opening stories. Balanced in the picture it paints of NASA and the other astronauts, this is a must read. It is certain to take its place with the other books about this era and stand as an equal to them.
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