Tracy in the Thunderbirds television series was named after Carpenter. In the 1983 film, The Right Stuff, Carpenter was played by Charles Frank. Although his appearance was relatively minor, the film played up Carpenter's friendship with Glenn, as played by Ed Harris. This film is based on the 1979 book of the same name by Tom Wolfe. In the 2015 ABC TV series The Astronaut Wives Club, Carpenter was portrayed by Wilson Bethel, and Rene Carpenter by Yvonne Strahovski. In the 2020 Disney+ miniseries The Right Stuff, Carpenter was played by James Lafferty. Books We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves, co-written with Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut, or the revised paperback edition , Carpenter's biography, co-written with his daughter Kristen Stoever; describes his childhood, his experiences as a naval aviator, a Mercury astronaut, including an account of what went wrong, and right, on the flight of Aurora 7. The Steel Albatross, . Science fiction. A technothriller set around the life of a fighter pilot in the US Navy's Top Gun school. Deep Flight, . Science fiction. Follow-on to The Steel Albatross. Notes References External links Iven C. Kincheloe Awards Carpenter at International Space Hall of Fame Rene Carpenter's article for Life magazine on Carpenter's flight. 1925 births 2013 deaths 1962 in spaceflight American aerospace engineers American autobiographers American business executives American male non-fiction writers United States Navy personnel of the Korean War American Korean War pilots American test pilots American underwater divers Aquanauts Aviators from Colorado Collier Trophy recipients Mercury Seven NASA people People from Boulder, Colorado Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal Rehoboth Carpenter family United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees United States Naval Aviators United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni United States Navy astronauts United States Navy officers University of Colorado alumni Writers from Colorado 20th-century American businesspeople United States Navy personnel of World War II