The Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station was designed by the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

(NASA) as a seafloor research station—or

underwater habitat Underwater habitats are underwater structures in which people can live for extended periods and carry out most of the Circadian rhythm, basic human functions of a 24-hour day, such as working, resting, eating, attending to personal hygiene, and ...

. It was designed by NASA

Aquanaut An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as sat ...

, Dennis Chamberland and Marine Engineer, Joseph M. Bishop and named in honor of the Mercury project astronaut and SEALAB (US Navy) aquanaut M. Scott Carpenter. It was used on two missions in the summer of 1997 and 1998 on the seafloor near Key Largo, Florida at the Marine Resources Development Foundatio

Specificity

The Scott Carpenter Station was the only habitat ever designed to be launched from a wheeled trailer, much like a boat. This design feature enabled it to be transported to schools and other venues for touring and educational outreach between missions. The education and outreach function was one of its primary features, and figured importantly in its missions. Many classroom to seafloor connections were made, including links to schools in Oklahoma, Florida, California and north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

in Canada's

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...

such as Pond Inlet, Nunavut.

Timeline

In 1997, the Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station became one of four existing seafloor habitats operational in the world. During the summers of 1997 and 1998, all four of the world's operational habitats were located within of each other, and three of them were within of one another in Key Largo: The Scott Carpenter Station, The MarineLab Research Statio

and the undersea hotel—the Jules Undersea Lodg

The fourth habitat, the Aquarius (laboratory) habitat was located just offshore near Key Largo inside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Mission One - 1997

The Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station's first mission was launched in September 1997. This mission included a shakedown and full functional test of its design and engineering systems. It also included a visit by NASA

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

, Dr. Bob Phillips as well as links to schools and classrooms. The link schedule also included linkage with a NASA team of investigators in isolation at the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

where they were testing long term, advanced life support systems. On board the Scott Carpenter Station, investigators also tested space life support systems for growth of plants in remote and extreme environments.

Mission Two - 1998

After the success of Mission One, the station was outfitted for an expanded mission during the following summer in what was known as the NASA Challenge Missio

The Challenge Mission ran concurrently with the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

Mission

STS-95 STS-95 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998, using the orbiter Space Shuttle Discovery, ''Discovery''. It was the 25th flight of ''Discovery'' and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the ...

, the mission which featured veteran astronaut

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...

. At the launch of the Space Shuttle, the Scott Carpenter Station Mission Commander, Dennis Chamberland and his crew embarked for an unbroken 11-day stay on the seafloor for the same period the Space Shuttle was in space. Following the flight, visitors to the seafloor station included motion picture director

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

, who conferenced with students in Pond Inlet, Nunavut via satellite phone, as well as producer Eugene Roddenberry II and

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

Explorer–climber, Tom Whittaker. In 1997, the station logged more than 36 days of crewed missions on the seafloor.

Transfer to the
Space Foundation The Space Foundation is an American nonprofit organization, the mission of which is to advocate for all sectors of the global space industry through space awareness activities, educational programs, and major industry events. It was founded in ...

In 2013, the Scott Carpenter Station moved to the

Space Foundation The Space Foundation is an American nonprofit organization, the mission of which is to advocate for all sectors of the global space industry through space awareness activities, educational programs, and major industry events. It was founded in ...

Discovery Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., as part of its display of space artifacts.

References