This is a great letter from Scott Carpenter’s father written before Carpenter became the 4th American to space and the 2nd to orbit the Earth.  I went to space camp when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, so I learned all about the Mercury astronauts.  I actually retained most of it pretty well.  About a year ago I was playing bar trivia and the question was literally this: “Who was the 2nd American to orbit the Earth!”  Yeah space camp. 

“As I think I remarked to you at the outset of the space program, you are privileged to share in a pioneering project on a grand scale — in fact the grandest scale yet known to man. And I venture to predict that after all the huzzas have been uttered and the public acclaim is but a memory, you will derive the greatest satisfaction from the serene knowledge that you have discovered new truths. You can say to yourself: this I saw, this I experienced, this I know to be the truth. This experience is a precious thing; it is known to all researchers, in whatever field of endeavour, who have ventured into the unknown and have discovered new truths.”

I love this letter.  It’s a pretty profound and open-minded thing to hear.  I love that it’s coming from a guy who’s probably in his mid-sixties in 1962.  Of course, you’ve got to be a pretty profound and openminded guy to raise one of the first seven astronauts.