NASA Astronaut, First Man To Fly Free In Space, Dies
Source: Newsweek Magazine
BY CALLUM PATON ON 12/23/17 AT 9:32 AM
The first man to fly untethered in space, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless, has died at the age of 80.
McCandless’s death was announced Thursday by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. No reason for his death was given, the Associated Press reported.
The former navy pilot created the iconic image of an astronaut floating above the earth’s surface when he was photographed in 1984 in his bulky spacewalking jetpack. During the flight he travelled more than 300 feet from the Challenger shuttle but said he was never nervous about the endeavor.
"I was grossly over-trained. I was just anxious to get out there and fly. I felt very comfortable ... It got so cold my teeth were chattering and I was shivering, but that was a very minor thing," McCandless told the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, in 2006.
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II performs EVA (extra-vehicular activity) with a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) during the STS-41-B mission, February 1984.
Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/nasa-astronaut-first-man-fly-free-space-dies-757884
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" 'One day', says Galileo
'A man will reach the sky,
And see the world completely
From outside
And gazing down from yonder
On a world of blue and green
He will say with eyes of wonder:
"I have seen. I have seen" ' "
- 'Discovery', by Chris De Burgh
