Scott Carpenter, a University of Colorado Boulder alumnus and a famed NASA Mercury astronaut who became only the second American to orbit Earth, died Thursday. He was 88. Carpenter, a Boulder native, entered CU-Boulderās astronautical engineering program in 1945, eventually earning a bachelor of science degree. He orbited Earth three times on May 24, 1962, in NASAās Aurora 7 capsule before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.