Close Calls in Space Exploration
Today, many consider space exploration a semi-safe, and mundane practice. A fleet of regularly flying space shuttles in the United States, and a fleet of reliable rockets in Russia, has made space travel appear routine and dull. While on the surface man's exploration of space may appear routine, in reality it is still as dangerous and exciting as it has been since the early 1960's.
It is the 1960's that bring us to the crux of this article. I would like to bring attention to some of the close calls during the first days of space travel. These incidents are lesser known (if at all) to most of the American public, and are small footnotes (but important ones) in man's exploration of space. These are incidents where tragedy was narrowly adverted. In this brief discussion, I will omit many catastrophes and disasters, such as the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 13, and the Challenger disaster. If you are not familiar with these tragedies you should take steps to learn about them (http://science.ksc.nasa.gov.history).
Did you know? For a short time a Mercury astronaut was lost at sea after splashdown.
A Gemini astronaut shattered the glass in his helmet after being thrust forward into a windshield in his capsule.
Because of a malfunction, astronauts struggled to regain control of their Gemini capsule before losing consciousness.
A Saturn V rocket carrying an Apollo crew to the moon was struck by lightning moments after liftoff.
In 1963 Scott Carpenter was beginning the process of reentering the Earth's atmosphere, when it became aware to himself, and Mission Control, that he was well off course of his designated landing area (about 90 miles to be exact). Carpenter, the astronaut for the fourth manned Mercury mission, completed 3 orbits in space, but some of the most nervous moments of his mission would happen after splashdown. For a while NASA, and the American public, was not sure what happened to Carpenter after splashdown. Despite speculation, he had landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean, but Carpenter was the only one aware of his situation. Regardless of where Carpenter had landed, the air inside his capsule quickly rose to 101 degrees, and he was forced to evacuate through the nose. Fortunately, after 36 minutes of sitting in his emergency raft next to the capsule, two search planes spotted Carpenter (his raft had no radio). Thirty minutes after being spotted, another plane dropped frogmen to harness and secure the capsule. After three hours of sitting in his raft, Carpenter was finally hoisted onto a rescue helicopter and flown to an aircraft carrier. Ironically, this astronaut had spent almost 5 hours in space, only two hours more than the time he spent floating in the Ocean.
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