Scott Carpenter went Rogue
After Glenn’s successful orbit, and the cancellation of Deke Slayton’s flight due to a medical condition, NASA gave Scott Carpenter the next Mercury mission, the Aurora 7. He was to conduct a series of scientific and engineering experiments to test the capabilities of the capsule. For the first time, the pilot would reach orbit, and manually turn the capsule around to backward flying attitude in preparation for its re-entry to Earth. A computer did this on prior missions, but NASA wanted Carpenter to try piloting this maneuver to save fuel, among other experiments. But during the flight, issues switching from ‘fly by wire’ and the manual control depleted fuel levels faster than expected. Flight director Chris Kraft continuously, with increasing frustration, instructed Carpenter to watch his fuel levels, but even when a warning light went off, Carpenter covered it with tape and continued with his photography and space investigation.