Scott Carpenter, one of the last two surviving astronauts of Nasa’s Mercury 7, and the first to have explored both humankind’s final frontiers, the heights of outer space and the depths of the ocean floor, died on Thursday in Denver, Colorado. He was 88.
HIs wife, Patty Barrett, said Carpenter died of complications of a stroke in September in a hospice in Denver. He lived in Vail, The Guardian informs.
“We’re going to miss him” she said.
Nasa administrator Charles Bolden said on Thursday that Carpenter “was in the vanguard of our space program – the pioneers who set the tone for our nation’s pioneering efforts beyond Earth and accomplished so much for our nation. … We will miss his passion, his talent and his lifelong commitment to exploration.”