GREAT AVIATION QUOTES
SCOTT CARPENTER

Godspeed, John Glenn.

Scott Carpenter

Radio transmission from the Pad 14 blockhouse as Friendship 7 lifted off, but not over the ground-to-air circuit and so not heard by John Glenn. From 'God Spede you,' or God prosper you, which is a 15th century Middle English expression of good wishes to a person starting a journey. Test conductor Tom O'Malley followed with “May the good Lord ride all the way”. 20 February 1962.

Carpenter later explained in a NASA Johnson Space Center oral-history interview that he was in the blockhouse handling communications with Glenn, and that sometime “between 10 and zero” in the count he said the line. He recalled: “Godspeed is something you hear all the time; but speed was very, very important to John,” and said the phrase came to him as both a salute and almost a plea for the flight’s success.

So, personally, it was a cherished experience. I feel I got the chance to see the inner workings of the grand order of things. In the overall scheme of things, it proves that men can do about anything they want to if they work hard enough at it, and I knew that I could do it, and that’s a good thought. And that leads, of course, to a strong suspicion that everybody else can do it if they want to.

Scott Carpenter

Recalling his 1962 Mercury 7 space flight. NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, Houston, Texas, March 30, 1998.

It’s a spiritual experience for anybody with a soul, I think, and I got that. It's a religious experience for some, maybe they've got two or three souls, I don't know. So, personally, it was a cherished experience. I feel I got the chance to see the inner workings of the grand order of things. In the overall scheme of things, it proves that men can do about anything they want to if they work hard enough at it, and I knew that I could do it, and that’s a good thought. And that leads, of course, to a strong suspicion that everybody else can do it if they want to.

Scott Carpenter

Answering the question “What do you think was the most important thing that you learned either personally or professionally on [the 1962 Mercury 7 space] flight?” NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, interview by Michelle Kelly in Houston, Texas, 30 March 1998.