Heart-stopping photos of the first untethered spacewalk commemorate the 40th anniversary of this daring feat.
Bruce McCandless II was the first man to nerve-wrack his way through space without ever being tethered to a spacecraft, on February 7, 1984.
Rather than being tethered to the Challenger Shuttle, the daring astronaut used a manned maneuvering unit (MMU) to control his movements.
The photo of McCandless floating 320 feet into space from the shuttle became one of NASA’s most popular archival works.
The mission included two untethered spacewalks, which proved to be the “most significant” for NASA. According to a press release.
During McCandless and Robert Stewart’s spacewalks on days four and five of their eight-day mission, the crew reduced the shuttle’s cabin pressure from 14.7 psi to 10.2 psi, allowing the two spacewalkers to By inhaling pure oxygen in advance, the time required to remove oxygen from the body was shortened. Excess nitrogen in the blood. Too much nitrogen can “bend while working in a spacesuit at 4.3 psi,” according to NASA.
The next day, McCandless and Stewart went on another spacewalk.
“It may have been one small step for Neil, but it’s one hell of a leap for me,” McCandless joked.
McCandless then floated 150 feet away from the shuttle, then returned, then 320 feet out and back again safely. Stewart followed the same procedure.
“The two astronauts completed the spacewalk after 5 hours and 55 minutes,” NASA said in a statement.
The mission will also see McCandless “fly” over the spacecraft using space’s first “cherry picker,” a configuration that combines a mobile foot restraint (MFR) and a remote manipulator system (RMS). It was seen.
Despite the extraordinary results, scientists were concerned about MMU.
“Many space agencies were concerned about using self-propelled, laceless backpacks in space,” said Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, a NASA human spaceflight historian.
“Previously, spacewalkers remained connected to the spacecraft with a tether. This jetpack allows the crew to move outside the cargo bay and conduct activities away from the safety of the spacecraft. I made it.”
McCandless has been an astronaut since being selected as an astronaut in 1966, but this was his first mission to space, the space agency said.
He contributed to the development of MMU. He also helped create the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit within Skylab, the predecessor to the MMU.
with post wire
