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Astronaut Carpenter on mend from stroke

In front of a the original launch console and tracking map, Mercury astronauts John Glenn, left, and Scott Carpenter celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first orbital flight by an American astronaut at the Kennedy Space Center in February 2012. (File)

Astronaut Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit Earth, is recovering from a stroke.

Patty Carpenter told the Vail Daily her 88-year-old husband had a stroke last week and has been moved to a rehabilitation center. She hopes he will be up and around in a few weeks.

Scott Carpenter, a longtime Vail, Colo., resident, is remembered for his radio call “Godspeed, John Glenn,” when Friendship 7 lifted off and Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962. Carpenter was Glenn’s backup pilot for that flight.

Three months later, Carpenter became the second American in orbit.

Patty Carpenter said “Scott was John’s backup. Now John is his backup,” adding that the two astronauts talk to each other almost every day.

ESPN calls pit stop for Reid

ESPN says motorsports announcer Marty Reid is no longer with the network.

Reid had been with ESPN since 1982 and is the only television play-by-play announcer to cover five different North American motorsports series. He’s called NASCAR’s Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series, as well as IndyCar and NHRA.

An ESPN spokesman said the network is going in a different direction and Allen Bestwick will call the remainder of the Nationwide Series races this season.

Reid was the network’s lead announcer for IndyCar and that position will be addressed later.

Reid erred during the Sept. 21 Nationwide Series race at Kentucky when he called the win for Ryan Blaney one lap shy of the finish. Bestwick called Saturday’s race at Dover instead of Reid.

The birthday bunch

Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel is 85. Actress Angie Dickinson is 82. Singer Cissy Houston is 80. Singer Johnny Mathis is 78. Singer Marilyn McCoo is 70. Country singer Deborah Allen is 60. Actor Barry Williams (“The Brady Bunch”) is 59. Actress Fran Drescher is 56. Actor Eric Stoltz is 52. Actress Monica Bellucci (“The Matrix Reloaded”) is 49. Actress Marion Cotillard is 38. Actress Lacey Chabert (“Mean Girls”) is 31. Actor Kieran Culkin is 31. Rapper T-Pain is 29.