Bruce McCandless, first astronaut to fly freely in space, dies at 80

Astronaut Bruce McCandless and Naval aviator, the first astronaut to fly untethered in space, died Thursday in California.

You may not know his name, but you most likely have seen him in one of the most famous pictures ever taken in space. In 1984, McCandless strapped on a jet-powered backpack and flew away from the shuttle, by himself, untethered, with Earth as a backdrop. It was McCandless that first went to space in 1984 aboard the shuttle Challenger and took these jet-powered backpacks along.

During the mission, McCandless climbed into the 300-pound MMU — the manned maneuvering unit, and slowly eased out of the shuttle's cargo bay. This time, it was mission controllers on the ground saying to him, "You have a lot of envious people watching you. Looks like you're having a lot of fun up there. "first time an astronaut had ever floated freely in space; McCandless had helped develop the technology. “I wanted to say something similar to Neil when he landed on the moon, so I said, 'It may have been a small step for Neil, but it’s a heck of a big leap for me,'" he wrote. "That loosened the tension a bit.” "My wife happened to be at mission control at the time and she says the laughter literally brought down the house. Which was sort of what I had intended because I wanted to loosen things up a little," he recalled.

Bruce McCandless. Astronaut, Naval aviator, Patriot, Husband, Father... Hero.
Bruce McCandless has died at the age of 80

in before the anti science idiots arrive : RIP captain McCandless

Or the nitwits to pop in declaring Sandra Bullock was the actual last Astronaut in space, and this thread is fake news.

a reply to: Violater1

A more accurate picture perhaps .

Thank you for the heads up on this sad loss. Amazing man, wonderful life. I feel for his family at this time of year it must be so hard.

originally posted by: antar
Thank you for the heads up on this sad loss. Amazing man, wonderful life. I feel for his family at this time of year it must be so hard.

Yes he was.
As we slowly loose the heroes who fought for traditional space exploration, another hero ascends to heaven.

Shame. He was in the UK just a couple of months ago but I couldn't get to see him.

He was also the CAPCOM for the Apollo 11 moon walk.

R.I.P. Bruce,

That distant picture of him is just breathtaking, I did a thread on those released high quality images around a year or so ago.....actually looking back it was 2014.


just have a look here,
files.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: Violater1

He's like the original Major Tom , a brave man indeed.

RiP Capt, McCandless , what a view it must have been.

originally posted by: smurfy
R.I.P. Bruce,

That distant picture of him is just breathtaking, I did a thread on those released high quality images around a year or so ago.....actually looking back it was 2014.

just have a look here,
files.abovetopsecret.com...

Thank you for the link to those spectacular photos
From 2014. My how fast time flies

originally posted by: ADSE255
Or the nitwits to pop in declaring Sandra Bullock was the actual last Astronaut in space, and this thread is fake news.

Or that the Earth is flat.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Captain McCandless
patrolled the skies near Cuba to protect our country.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: Violater1

He's like the original Major Tom , a brave man indeed.

RiP Capt, McCandless , what a view it must have been.

Indeed.
This come to mind.

Imagine the cojones he must have had. Truly a brave man, a pioneer, and a hero. May he rest in peace.

originally posted by: AdmireTheDistance
Imagine the cojones he must have had. Truly a brave man, a pioneer, and a hero. May he rest in peace.

He must have been at least 300 meters from his ship when this photo was taken.