Untethered Space Walk
The first untethered spacewalk was made by american bruce mccandless ii on february 7 1984 during the space shuttle challenger mission sts 41 b using the manned maneuvering unit.
Untethered space walk. 7 1984 two challenger space shuttle astronauts capt. Astronaut bruce mccandless on first ever untethered spacewalk astronaut bruce mccandless ii sts 41 b mission specialist uses his hands to control his movement above the earth just a few meters away from the space shuttle challenger during the first ever spacewalk which didn t use restrictive tethers and umbilicals. 7 1984 astronaut bruce mccandless made history performing a spacewalk during sts 41b with no lifelines tethering him to space shuttle challenger.
Using the manned maneuvering unit mmu mccandless and astronaut bob stewart completed separate untethered spacewalks during the mission both venturing more than 300 feet 91 meters from challenger. All moonwalks were performed with astronauts untethered and some of the astronauts traveled far enough to lose visual contact with their craft they were up to 7 6 km away from it using the lunar roving vehicle. It s pretty obvious that the first untethered spacewalk would be on the list of one of the most iconic moments in human space history.
It was captured during mission sts 41b on 11 february 1984. He was subsequently joined by robert l. Stewart performed the first untethered spacewalk during the sts 41b mission.
Kennedy space center fla. Stewart during the 5 hour 55 minute spacewalk. In a still startling nasa image from that mission untethered mccandless hangs 320 feet from challenger suspended above our impossibly blue planet and appearing paradoxically powerful and fragile.
1 2016 astronaut bruce mccandless on first ever untethered spacewalk astronaut bruce mccandless ii one of two sts 41b mission specialists participating in a historic spacewalk is a few meters away from the cabin of the earth orbiting space shuttle challenger in this 70mm frame on feb.