Astronaut Bruce McCandless in Outer Space

Astronaut Bruce Mccandleuss flying free in Outer Space.

Official NASA Photograph

This postcard is unused.

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Bruce McCandless II (born June 8, 1937) is a former naval aviator with the United States Navy and former NASA astronaut. During the first of his two Space Shuttle missions he made the first ever untethered free flight using the Manned Maneuvering Unit in 1984.

STS-41-B

This famous image shows McCandless using the MMU during STS-41-B in 1984.
Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight deployed two communications satellites, and flight-tested rendezvous sensors and computer programs for the first time.

This mission marked the first checkout of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) and Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR). McCandless made the first untethered free flight on each of the two MMUs carried on board, thereby becoming the first person ever to make an untethered spacewalk.

After eight days in orbit, Challenger made the first landing on the runway at Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984.
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