A very fine portrait of space pioneer Scott Carpenter during flight simulations at Langley Air force Base as he trains as back-up pilot for the first US manned orbital flight Mercury Atlas 6. 

Carpenter eventually flew on Mercury Atlas 7, the second orbital flight of an American rocket with a human on board. The pilot was originally planned to be Donald Slayton but was changed to be Scott Carpenter after a medical examination of Slayton revealed an irregularity in his heartbeat. 

The Aurora 7 spacecraft mated to an Atlas rocket was launched from Pad 14, Cape Canaveral, at 07:45:00 a.m. EST on May 24, 1962.