Carl Bell

Captain Carl Bell was a pre-War American astronaut.

Background

In May of 1961, Bell led the United States Space Administration's ill-fated Defiance 7 mission, becoming both the first American in space and the first human to die in space. He became the first human in space on board the Defiance 7 space capsule, a feat that was heavily disputed by both the Soviet Union and China afterward.^[1] He died on May 5, 1961 when the space capsule crash landed.^[1] The Defiance 7 flight lasted for a total of 12 minutes and 7 seconds as it achieved one full revolution around the Earth.^[1] After his death, his skeleton was donated by Edwina Bell to the Washington, D.C. Museum of Technology, where it was displayed in the west wing, along with Bell's deep space suit.^[1]

Appearances

Captain Carl Bell is mentioned only in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

• Captain Carl Bell and the Defiance 7 are references to the suborbital flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, which occurred on the same date. His space capsule was named Freedom 7.
  • Bell's status as the first space-bound human being disputed by the Soviet Union is a reference to the fact that in the real world, it was a Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin who was the first human to journey into outer space aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961.

References