Impressed with his performance, the skipper of VP-6, Commander Guy Howard, recommended Carpenter's appointment to the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Carpenter was part of Class 13, at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1954. He flew aircraft such as the AD Skyraider and the Martin P4M Mercator. For the first time, he flew jets, including the F9F Panther, F11F Tiger and A3D Skywarrior. He remained at Patuxent River until 1957, working as a test pilot in the Electronics Test Division. Carpenter attended the Navy General Line School in Monterey, California, in 1957, and then the Naval Air Intelligence School at NAS Anacostia in Washington D.C. In 1958 he was named Air Intelligence Officer of , which was in dry dock at the Bremerton Navy Yard. NASA career Mercury Seven On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. This shattered Americans' confidence in their technological superiority, creating a wave of anxiety known as the Sputnik crisis. Among his responses, President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched the Space Race. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established on October 1, 1958, as a civilian agency to develop space technology. One of its first initiatives was Project Mercury, which aimed to launch a man into Earth orbit, evaluate his capabilities in space, and return him safely to the Earth. The first astronauts intake was drawn from the ranks of military test pilots. The service records of 508 graduates of test pilot schools were obtained from the United States Department of Defense. From these, 110 were found that matched the minimum standards: the candidates had to be younger than 40, possess a bachelor's degree or equivalent and to be or less. While these were not all strictly enforced, the height requirement was firm, owing to the size of the Project Mercury spacecraft. DPP was restricted to those with bachelor's degrees, so it was assumed that Carpenter had one. The number of candidates was then reduced to 32, which seemed a more than adequate number from which to select 12 astronauts. The degree of interest also indicated that far fewer would drop out during training than anticipated, which would result in training astronauts who would not be required to fly Project Mercury missions. It was therefore decided to halve the number of astronauts. Then came a grueling series of physical and psychological tests at the Lovelace Clinic and the