Astronaut, Aquanaut Link Up

Two astronaut-aquanauts--one high above Earth and the other beneath the sea--exchanged greetings Saturday in a rare linking of the two frontiers.

Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter called the space shuttle Endeavour from an underwater laboratory in the Florida Keys and spent 15 minutes comparing notes with fellow deep-sea diver and space traveler Michael Gernhardt.

“I tell you, you read in all the books that the Earth is three-quarters ocean and you accept it intellectually,” Gernhardt said from Endeavour, soaring over the Pacific. “But it takes getting up in space and looking out the window and seeing just how beautiful, magnificent these oceans are to really, fully appreciate it.”

Carpenter, who became the fourth American in space in 1962, said he was envious of Gernhardt’s view.

“Take a good look out that window,” Carpenter said, “because what you can see from up there is something that will last in your mind forever.”