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Scott Carpenter (1925–2013) was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury. In 1962, Carpenter flew the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission to become the second American to orbit Earth and the fourth to fly into space. His spacecraft, which he named Aurora 7, malfunctioned and landed 250 miles (400 km) from its intended splashdown point. In 1964, Carpenter took a leave of absence to join the U.S. Navy's SEALAB project. During aquanaut training, he suffered injuries that grounded him, making him unavailable for further spaceflights. In 1965, he spent 28 days on the ocean floor as part of SEALAB II. He returned to NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center. He retired from NASA in 1967 and the Navy in 1969, with the rank of commander. Carpenter became a consultant on space flight and oceanography. He appeared in television commercials and wrote a pair of technothrillers and an autobiography. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Katen, one of the Juniten

... that the paintings of the Juniten (Katen pictured) were used in esoteric Buddhist rituals?
... that Lenny Brown almost left his college basketball team after two games, but stayed to become one of its all-time leading scorers?
... that Ananth Subramaniam came up with Bleat! after thinking of a pregnant goat?
... that after seizing the island of Bangka in an 1812 military expedition, the British quickly abandoned it due to high mortality rates?
... that in his first year as an NBA G League head coach, Scott King was named its coach of the year?
... that TJ Monterde recorded his song "Puhon" under a blanket in his bedroom?
... that a California TV station lost the rights to air Sacramento Kings basketball for declining to share revenue from pre-game and post-game shows?
... that while making Caressing My Hibernating Bear, the creator said a real bear appeared in the neighborhood?
... that the neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Dan Burros killed himself when The New York Times revealed that he was Jewish?

In the news

Aleksander Barkov

In ice hockey, the Florida Panthers (captain Aleksander Barkov pictured) defeat the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup.
In motorsport, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Phil Hanson of AF Corse win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In the US state of Minnesota, state representative Melissa Hortman is assassinated and state senator John Hoffman is injured.
Former president of Nicaragua and first elected female president in the Americas Violeta Chamorro dies at the age of 95.

On this day

June 22: Windrush Day (United Kingdom)

George V and Mary after their coronation

1593 – Habsburg troops defeated a larger Ottoman force at the Battle of Sisak in the Kingdom of Croatia, triggering the Long Turkish War.
1911 – King George V and Queen Mary (both pictured) were crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.
1941 – World War II: As Axis troops began their invasion of the Soviet Union, the Lithuanian Activist Front started an uprising to liberate Lithuania from Soviet occupation.
1979 – Former British Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of having a relationship with him.
2002 – A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck northwestern Iran, killing at least 230 people and injuring 1,300 others; the official response, perceived to be slow, later caused widespread public anger.

Howard Staunton (d. 1874)
Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (d. 1937)
Elizabeth Warren (b. 1949)
Meryl Streep (b. 1949)

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Today's featured picture

The Shah Mosque, officially known as the Imam Khomeini Mosque, is located on the south side of Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran. The mosque was commissioned by Abbas the Great to a design by the architect Ali Akbar Isfahani. Its construction began in 1611, during the Safavid Empire, and was completed c. 1630. The photograph shows the Persian blue tiling of the entrance iwan, looking up at the muqarnas above.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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