Thank you, Bruce McCandless, for this iconic space photo
 

Thank you, Bruce McCandless, for this iconic space photo
https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/G6cgPYw9EaT...51a30a2907.jpghttps://a.amz.mshcdn.com/assets/feed...8be198fb13.jpghttps://a.amz.mshcdn.com/assets/feed...6a4ca77139.jpg
An astronaut floats alone with the blackness of space behind him and the bright blue limb of the Earth below.*

He's untethered with nothing but a NASA-made jetpack to protect him.

NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless — who died at the age of 80 on Thursday — is that untethered astronaut in one of the most iconic space photos of all time.

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"My wife [Bernice] was at mission control, and there was quite a bit of apprehension," McCandless said in 2015 of the 1984 spacewalk that led to the photo.*

https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/RQMMQ9JZDw0...325ac6d8e2.jpg

A wide shot of McCandless.

Image: nasa


"I wanted to say something similar to Neil [Armstrong] when he landed on the moon, so I said, 'It may have been a small step for Neil, but it’s a heck of a big leap for me.' That loosened the tension a bit." Read more...

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