TLS signed “Wernher,” one page, 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, May 12, 1969. Letter to Mercury Pilot Scott Carpenter, written six days before the launch of the Apollo 10 mission, in full: "My good friend and speaking agent for many years, Harry Walker, advises me that he plans to approach you with respect to your possible interest in public speaking activities. It may even be that he has contacted you already. The purpose of this letter is just to tell you that Harry has arranged speaking engagements for me for a number of years and there has never been a mix-up. I am sure that if you see your way clear to work with him, you will not be disappointed. Every now and then I read and hear of your new exploits underwater. It seems that outer space and inner space find more and more areas of mutual interest. Even George Mueller, who is very hard to persuade that he needs a vacation, spent a glorious week with the Tektite Project on St. Johns in the Virgin Islands, and was very enthusiastic about it. Please give my best regards to your charming wife Rene." In very good to fine condition, with creasing and chipping to the edges, and some trivial small holes in the upper blank area.
Carpenter's interest in underwater research led to obtaining a leave of absence from NASA and joining the US Navy's SEALAB project. After training in Bermuda in July 1964, he became a member of the SEALAB II team in 1965, spending 28 days living on the ocean floor off the coast of California; Carpenter and Gordon Cooper held the first conversation between a craft in outer space and one on the ocean floor while the latter completed his Gemini 5 mission. Carpenter returned to NASA and later joined the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project based in Bethesda, Maryland, as a Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III in 1967, but two surgeries in 1964 and 1967 for injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident left Carpenter unable to regain full mobility in his arm, and he was ruled ineligible for spaceflight and further deep-sea missions.
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