Bruce McCandless II | |
|---|---|
 McCandless in 1982 | |
| Born | Byron Willis McCandless (1937-06-08)June 8, 1937 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | December 21, 2017(2017-12-21) (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | United States Naval Academy Cemetery |
| Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) Stanford University (MS) University of Houston (MBA) |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 2 |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Captain,USN |
Time in space | 13d 0h 31m |
| Selection | NASA Group 5 (1966) |
TotalEVAs | 2 |
Total EVA time | 12h 12m |
| Missions | STS-41-B STS-31 |
Mission insignia |   |
| Retirement | August 31, 1990 |
Bruce McCandless II (bornByron Willis McCandless;[1] June 8, 1937 – December 21, 2017) was an AmericanNavy officer andaviator,electrical engineer, andNASAastronaut. In 1984, during the first of his twoSpace Shuttle missions, he completed the first untetheredspacewalk by using theManned Maneuvering Unit.
Byron Willis McCandless[1] was born on June 8, 1937, inBoston, Massachusetts.[2] A third-generation U.S. Navy officer, McCandless was the son ofBruce McCandless and grandson ofWillis W. Bradley, bothMedal of Honor recipients. His mother changed his name on June 6, 1938, to Bruce McCandless II.[1] He graduated fromWoodrow Wilson Senior High School,Long Beach, California, in 1954.[2]
In 1958, he received aBachelor of Science from theUnited States Naval Academy, graduating second, behind futureNational Security AdvisorJohn Poindexter, in a class of 899 that also includedJohn McCain.[2] During his professional career, he also received aMaster of Science inelectrical engineering fromStanford University in 1965 and aMaster of Business Administration from theUniversity of Houston–Clear Lake in 1987.[2]
Following his commissioning, McCandless received flight training from theNaval Air Training Command atNaval Air Station Pensacola,Florida, andNaval Air Station Kingsville,Texas.[2]
In March 1960, he was designated aUnited States Naval Aviator and proceeded toNaval Air Station Key West for weapons system and carrier landing training in theDouglas F4D-1 Skyray.[2]
Between December 1960 and February 1964, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 102 (VF-102), flying the Skyray and theMcDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II. He saw duty aboardUSS Forrestal andUSS Enterprise, including the latter's participation in theCuban Missile Crisis.[2]
For three months in early 1964, he was an instrumentflight instructor in Attack Squadron 43 (VA-43) atNaval Air Station Oceana,Virginia, and then reported to theNaval Reserve Officers Training Corps unit atStanford University for graduate studies in electrical engineering.[2]
During Naval service he gained flying proficiency in theLockheed T-33B Shooting Star,Northrop T-38A Talon, McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II, Douglas F4D Skyray,Grumman F11F Tiger,Grumman F9F Cougar,Lockheed T-1 Seastar, andBeechcraft T-34B Mentor, and theBell 47G helicopter.[2]
He logged more than 5,200 hours flying time, including 5,000 hours injet aircraft.[3]
At the age of 28, McCandless was selected as the youngest member ofNASA Astronaut Group 5 (jokingly labeled the "Original Nineteen" byJohn W. Young) in April 1966.[4] According to space historian Matthew Hersch, McCandless and Group 5 colleagueDon L. Lind were "effectively treated ... as scientist-astronauts" (akin to those selected in thefourth andsixth groups) by NASA due to their substantial scientific experience, an implicit reflection of their lack of the test pilot experience highly valued byDeke Slayton and other NASA managers at the time; this ultimately delayed their progression in the flight rotation.[5]
He served asmission control capsule communicator (CAPCOM) onApollo 11 during the launch and during the first lunar moonwalk (EVA) byNeil Armstrong andBuzz Aldrin before joining the astronaut support crew for theApollo 14 mission, on which he doubled as a CAPCOM.[6] Thereafter, McCandless was reassigned to theSkylab program, where he received his first crew assignment as backup pilot for the space station'sfirst crewed mission alongside backup commanderRusty Schweickart and backup science pilotStory Musgrave.[7] Following this assignment, he again served as a CAPCOM onSkylab 3 andSkylab 4. Notably, McCandless was a co-investigator on the M-509 astronaut maneuvering unit experiment that was flown on Skylab; this eventually led to his collaboration on the development of theManned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) used during Space ShuttleEVAs.[8] Although he was classified as a Shuttle pilot until 1983, McCandless ultimately chose to work on the MMU as amission specialist due to the prestige of the program (which ensured a flight assignment) and his lack of test pilot experience.[9]
He was responsible for crew inputs to the development of hardware and procedures for theInertial Upper Stage (IUS),Hubble Space Telescope, theSolar Maximum Repair Mission, and theInternational Space Station program.[3]
McCandless logged over 312 hours in space, including four hours of MMU flight time.[3] He flew as a mission specialist onSTS-41-B andSTS-31.[10]
Challenger launched fromKennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight deployed twocommunications satellites, and flight-tested rendezvous sensors and computer programs for the first time.[3]
This mission marked the first checkout of the MMU andManipulator Foot Restraint (MFR). McCandless made the first untethered free flight on each of the two MMUs carried on board, thereby becoming the first person to make an untetheredspacewalk.[3] He described the experience:[11]
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. ... I'd been told of the quiet vacuum you experience in space, but with three radio links saying, 'How's your oxygen holding out?', 'Stay away from the engines!' and 'When's my turn?', it wasn't that peaceful ... It was a wonderful feeling, a mix of personal elation and professional pride: it had taken many years to get to that point.
McCandless's first EVA lasted 6 hours and 17 minutes. The second EVA (in whichStewart used the MMU) lasted 5 hours and 55 minutes.[12]On February 11, 1984, after eight days in orbit,Challenger made the first landing on the runway at Kennedy Space Center.[3]
On this five-dayDiscovery flight, launched on April 24, 1990, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the crew deployed the Hubble Space Telescope from their record-setting altitude of 380 miles (610 km).[3]
During the deployment of Hubble, one of the observatory's solar arrays stopped as it unfurled. While ground controllers searched for a way to command HST to unreel the solar array, Mission Specialists McCandless andKathryn D. Sullivan began preparing for a contingencyspacewalk in the event that the array could not be deployed through ground control. The array eventually came free and unfurled through ground control, while McCandless and Sullivan were pre-breathing inside the partially depressurized airlock.[13]
Discovery landed atEdwards Air Force Base,California, on April 29, 1990.[3]
After retiring from NASA in 1990, McCandless worked forLockheed Martin Space Systems.[11]
He was afellow of theAmerican Astronautical Society and former president of theHouston Audubon Society.[3]
He was awarded apatent for the design of a tool tethering system that was used duringSpace Shuttle spacewalks.[3]
McCandless was married to Bernice Doyle McCandless (1937–2014)[17] for 53 years, and the couple had two children. His recreational interests includedelectronics,photography,scuba diving, andflying. He also enjoyedcross-country skiing.[3]
In an August 2005Smithsonian magazine article about the MMU photo, McCandless is quoted as saying that the subject's anonymity is its best feature. "I have the sun visor down, so you can't see my face, and that means it could be anybody in there. It's sort of a representation not of Bruce McCandless, but mankind."[18]
On September 30, 2010, McCandless launched a lawsuit against British singerDido for unauthorized use of a photo of his 1984 space flight for the album art of her 2008 albumSafe Trip Home, which showed McCandless "free flying" about 320 feet away from the Space ShuttleChallenger.[19] The lawsuit, which also named Sony Corp.'sSony Music Entertainment andGetty Images as defendants, did not allege copyright infringement but infringement of hispersona.[20][21] The action was settled amicably on January 14, 2011.[22]
McCandless wrote the foreword to the bookLive TV from Orbit by Dwight Steven-Boniecki.[23]
McCandless died on December 21, 2017, at age 80.[24] He was survived by his second wife, Ellen Shields McCandless, two children and two grandchildren.[25]
McCandless was buried at theUnited States Naval Academy Cemetery at Annapolis on January 16, 2018.
McCandless' son, author Bruce McCandless III, wrote about the journey leading to the first untethered spacewalk in the 2021 bookWonders All Around: The Incredible True Story of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II and the First Untethered Flight in Space.
John McCain, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy with McCandless in the Class of 1958, stated after McCandless' death:[11]
The iconic photo of Bruce soaring effortlessly in space has inspired generations of Americans to believe that there is no limit to the human potential.
Lockheed Martin later developed theMcCandless Lunar Lander and named it after him. This honored him as an esteemed employee of the company, and also the fact that theMMU spacewalk was facilitated by the jetpack developed by Lockheed Martin.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
