[ Astronauts & Cosmonauts ]

Bruce McCandless II

Born: 8 June 1937, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Nationality: American

Died: 

Flights:
1 41-B 3 February 1984 7 days, 23 hours, 16 minutes
2 STS-31 24 April 1990 5 days, 1 hour, 16 minutes

 
EVA's:
1 41-B 7 February 1984 5 hours, 55 minutes
2 41-B 9 February 1984 6 hours, 17 minutes

Bruce McCandless made the first untethered space walk on 7 February, 1984. He used a backback powered by 24 nitrogen-firing jets and roamed up to 320 feet from the space shuttle while orbiting the Earth at 17,500 mph. Recalling Neil Armstrong's famous small step remark, McCandless said, "It's a heck of a big leap for me."