Fifty Years Ago This Week: U.S. Sen. John Carroll said that if he had anything to say in the matter, the Aurora 7 space capsule would be turned over to the city of Boulder to become the center attraction of a memorial park created in honor of astronaut Scott Carpenter.

The highly successful OSO-1 orbiting solar observatory was deployed in early 1962 by NASA and was developed in Boulder by the Ball Brothers Research Corporation.

In a letter to James E. Webb, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Carroll wrote that the city of Boulder, “and indeed the entire state – are most anxious to have the Aurora 7 permanently housed in Boulder and made the focal point of the monument. Coloradans are extremely proud of their native son and his spectacular achievement. They demonstrated their admiration and affection in their wildly enthusiastic welcome of the astronaut during his visit to his home state.”

Carroll closed by stating that Boulder had become a vibrant and enterprising center of civilian space activity and would only continue to innovate.

Carpenter, a veteran of the Korean and Cold Wars, was a naval test pilot before he joined NASA to become the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space. Carpenter piloted the Aurora 7 (originally named Mercury-Atlas 7) on an orbital mission, and, though the craft suffered a series of malfunctions and landed 250 miles away from its intended splashdown point, both he and the Aurora 7 were successfully retrieved.

Thirty-Five Years Ago: Denver Mayor Federico Peña won reelection with a narrow margin of 51% of the vote.

His challenger Don Bain gave a respectful conciliatory speech, urging “…all of you, Peña and Bain supporters alike, to join hands and unite behind our common goal, our wonderful city of Denver,” but his own supporters were not as sanguine.

Former mayoral candidate and City Auditor Mike Licht did not mince words in his assessment of Peña.

“Peña got his votes out,” Licht said. “He runs a good election campaign, but he doesn’t run a good city. I’m concerned for Denver about the next four years under Peña. He articulates certain things well, but those things don’t happen.”

When asked if he had political plans after leaving the auditor’s office in July, Licht replied, “If I never see another politician again, it’ll be too soon.”

Peña’s campaign manager, Tom Mussbaum, said he was relieved to finally be able to admit that he had been worried about the outcome.

“I was scared it would be very close,” Mussbaum told reporters, referencing nerve-racking numbers in the polls. “I’m always optimistic, but I thought it would be very close. But it’s the mayor and his character that won out. It’s due to the qualities that the mayor has. People have seen him to be a hard-working, honest man.”

Peña urged his supporters to, “…unite our city, let’s work together. Let’s join hands, pull together for the benefit of Denver. We have a common goal, and that’s our city. Let’s keep Denver a great city, and make it an even better city.”

“This city was going nowhere when the mayor was elected in 1983,” Nussbaum told The Colorado Statesman, “it was directionless and no one paid any attention to the way in which the city government was run. Things will definitely change” because Peña “…has four years under his belt and I do think … he will look around, he will make decisions about staffing, he will listen.”

Although there were rumors swirling that Don Bain might become involved in city management, Bain told The Statesman, “We never know what the future holds for us. When historians analyze the Bain campaign, they will say: Don Bain loved his city, respected his fellow man, he worked hard and gave it his all.”

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Gazette.