Forty years ago, Bruce McCandless II made history by performing the first untethered spacewalk, marking a significant milestone in space exploration.
On February 7, 1984, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II donned a hand-controlled backpack and propelled himself away from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger, according to Live Science. He flew 98 meters away from the spacecraft, becoming the first person to conduct a spacewalk without a safety tether. McCandless orbited Earth like a satellite for 1 hour and 22 minutes.
Photo of astronaut Bruce McCandless II floating untethered outside the Challenger. (Photo: NASA).
“That may have been a small step for Neil, but it was a giant leap for me,” McCandless shared about his solo journey around the Earth.
This moment became iconic thanks to Robert “Hoot” Gibson, the pilot of the Challenger. He used a Hasselblad camera to capture the moment McCandless floated alone above Earth. This image became the most famous photograph of the entire Space Shuttle program.
Although the photo was not part of the original plan, Gibson immediately realized its potential fame; thus, he adjusted the brightness settings and focused four times on the shot, according to NASA. He even tilted the camera to ensure the horizon was level in the photo.
McCandless served as a communicator in NASA’s mission control during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 and Apollo 14 in 1971. His second and final flight took place in April 1990 on the STS-31 mission, which deployed the Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 80. His backpack is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia.
