Video: 'MERCURY-ATLAS 7 - Liftoff to Orbit (1962/05/24) - Full Audio - Scott Carpenter, Aurora 7'

(Thursday, May 24, 1962, 12:45:16 UTC/8:45:16 a.m. EDT; during the Space Race) — Astronaut Scott Carpenter blasted off from Launch Complex 14 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida, this morning aboard his Aurora 7 spacecraft, becoming the second American to orbit the Earth, the fourth American in space (following Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn) and the sixth human to fly in space.

Video: 'Mercury Atlas 7 -The Complete Flight of Aurora 7 (Full Mission)'

Carpenter orbited the Earth three times, then splashed down 250 miles off course in the fourth mission of Project Mercury. He was located and rescued by the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid.

Carpenter’s rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:45 a.m. EDT, went around the Earth three times, then began its return at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

Video: 'AURORA 7 - Mercury-Atlas 7 (1962/05/24) - NASA documentary'

Instead of being tilted 34-degrees toward the horizon, the capsule was inclined at 25-degrees and overshot its mark, landing at 1:41 p.m. EDT in an area northeast of Puerto Rico. Carpenter deployed a rubber raft and stayed afloat for another three hours before being spotted.

Carpenter was held responsible, at least in part, for the landing error and was sidelined for future missions.