This was the second U.S. orbital manned space flight.

The flight featured space capsule attitude, stabilization and control tasks for the three-orbit mission.

Carpenter became the first astronaut to eat food in space.

A re-entry navigational error caused the Mercury space capsule to overshoot its southeast Atlantic Ocean landing site by 200 miles.

Carpenter spent three hours in a life raft before being picked up by a rescue helicopter.

Launch Date: May 24, 1962, 7:45 AM EST

Launch Vehicle: Mercury-Atlas.

Spacecraft unofficially named "Aurora 7"

Crew: M. Scott Carpenter