Boulder-born astronaut Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit Earth and the first person to explore both the heights of space and the depths of the ocean, died Thursday after a stroke. He was 88.
Along with John Glenn, who flew three months before him, Carpenter was one of the last two survivors of the original Mercury 7 astronauts for the fledgling U.S. space program. He lived in Vail until a few weeks ago, when he suffered a stroke that put him in Swedish Medical Center and, eventually, The Denver Hospice at Lowry.
“On Sunday, we watched the Broncos-Dallas game, and he was very verbal,” his daughter Candy Carpenter said Thursday.
But he took a turn for the worse the next day and never recovered.
Candy Carpenter, 57, said her father died peacefully at 5:30 a.m. of complications from the stroke. His wife, Patty Barrett, was at his side.
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