Scott Carpenter | 1925-2013

Scott Carpenter, left, is debriefed by fellow astronaut John Glenn after his orbital flight. Carpenter was the second American to orbit Earth; Glenn was the first.  (NASA / Associated Press)

Scott Carpenter prepares to be shot into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Fla.   (NASA / Associated Press)

Scott Carpenter studies the flight operations of the Mercury capsule that he would ultimately pilot for three orbits.   (NASA / Associated Press)

Scott Carpenter has his space suit adjusted by a technician in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Carpenter was briefly feared lost after orbiting Earth three times and plunging into the Atlantic far from his target. But he returned to parades and plaudits.  (NASA / Associated Press)

The original seven Project Mercury astronauts are shown during training at NASA Langley Research Center. From left are M. Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Deke Slayton.   (NASA / Associated Press)

The then-four remaining Mercury astronauts stand in front of a portrait of Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American in space, during a memorial service for Shepard at Johnson Space Center in Houston. From left are Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra, Scott Carpenter and John Glenn.  (Michael Stravato / Associated Press)

Mercury 7 astronauts Gordon Cooper, left, Wally Schirra and Scott Carpenter pose for a photograph during a news conference at Kennedy Space Center.  (Tony Ranze / AFP/Getty Images)

Scott Carpenter described his life as a “rare personal achievement and self-destruction of equal virtuosity: six cars totaled, four marriages, seven children. From all of them, somehow, boy and man always managed to walk away.”  (Michael Brown / Associated Press)