Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013) was an American test pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959. Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space, following Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn.
He was married to feminist columnist Rene Carpenter.
Carpenter had a stroke and entered The Denver Hospice Inpatient Care Center at Lowry, Denver, Colorado where he died on October 10, 2013. He was 88 years old.