Evening star., 1962-05-26
Mercury Observers Offer Opinions
On Confusion During Third Orbit


fused, preoccupied or simply
reflective during his last whirl
around the globe? Space Off
cials here seem unable to agree
on an answer.
As they weighed this and
other questions which arose
during the 37-year-old naval
officers thrilling space jour-
ney, he had a date today to go
skindiving with other astro-
nauts off this tiny West Indies
island.
Then there were to be more
questions about his three-or-
bital flight, more debriefing,
with AstronautS John H. Glenn,
jr.; Walter M. Schirra, Virgil
I. Grissom and Leroy Gordon
Cooper joining in the interro-
cation.
The question of Comdr. Car
penter's condition during his
last orbit arose late Thursday
night, several hours after he
had been plucked from his tiny
life raft in the Atlantic $50
miles beyond his target land
ing area. The II Mercury track
ing stations got together on
their world-girdling radio net
work for a postflight critique.
The Kauai (HawaiD station
said Comdr. Carpenter sounded
tired and his voice was weak
as he flew over.
He was quite concerned
about his capsule attitude and
therefore, on several occasions,
when Capcom Capsule COM
municator) tried to get him on
his retro sequence, he kept re-
turning to what he was doing,
the station said.
Seemed Confused
I'VE told him to get ready for c
the retro sequence and he r
started doing something else.
There was some confusion S
whether he Understood what
the order was.
I'VE had the impression that t
he was very confused about !
what was going on. But it was G
very difficult to assess whether
he was confused or preoccu-
pied" q
The Woomera, Australia, sta {
tion came in to say, I'VE also ,
feel the astronaut was acting 9
somewhat tired on the last
pass" 1t said his voice was
weak.
When he was asked to COM
ment on the critique, the medi-
cal expert who monitored
Comdr. Carpenters flight said
the astronaut obviously was I
tired. But DR.. Stanley C. White
said Comdr. Carpenter per- 9
formed his tasks "in an appro- !;
PIRATE manner"
He Was Busy !
His theory was that the t
tracking stations thought !
Comdr. Carpenter was confused
because he was too busy at
times to make the requested re- I
Sponses. L
At Grand Turk, the pSychia-
trist who talked to Comdr.
Carpenter after he came back
to earth said he didn't think
the aStronaut was tired during
the trip. II
Quite the opposite" said DR..
George Ruff of the University
of Pennsylvania. IT think he
was quite alert on the whole
flight"
So far as making decisions
goes, DR.. Ruff said, people diff {
fer. Some. given 10 seconds for {
a decision, will make it in the ]
first second. Comdr. Carpenter;
he said, is the type who will !
think about it for nine seconds, ]
considering the alternatives, be-
fore making the decision in the I
10th second.
Hes the reflective type"
DR.. Ruff said.
Whatever his condition on l
the last orbit. Comdr. Carpenter
was hungry, exhilarated and {
apologetic once he came back !
to earth.
As he bobbed in his life raft :
waiting for recovery forces to
pick him up, Comdr. Carpenter
sampled the food from mis- sur
vival kit and slipped water. 4
HE pulled out a bar of con-
centrated food and began
munching on it," said Sergt.
Ray E. Mcclure, Mt. Sterling, :
KY, one of the pair of para
medicS who jumped into the
Atlantic to aid the aStronaut. S
"He offered us some but we t
thanked him and turned it
down." {