Bruce McCandless II (born Byron Willis McCandless; June 8, 1937 – December 21, 2017) was an American

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

officer and

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

. In 1984, during the first of his two

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

missions, he completed the first untethered

spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environme ...

by using the

Manned Maneuvering Unit The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is an astronaut propulsion unit that was used by NASA on three Space Shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered Extravehicular activity, extravehicular spacewalks at a dist ...

Early life and education

Byron Willis McCandless was born on June 8, 1937, in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts. A third-generation U.S. Navy officer, McCandless was the son of Bruce McCandless and grandson of Willis W. Bradley, both

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipients. His mother changed his name on June 6, 1938, to Bruce McCandless II. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson Senior High School,

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, in 1954. In 1958, he received a B.S. from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

, graduating second, behind future National Security Advisor John Poindexter, in a class of 899 that also included

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

. During his professional career, he also received an

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1965 and an M.B.A. from the

University of Houston–Clear Lake The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) is a public university in Pasadena, Texas, Pasadena and Houston in Texas, with branch campuses in Pearland, Texas, Pearland and Texas Medical Center. It is part of the University of Houston System, U ...

in 1987.

United States Navy

Following his commissioning, McCandless received flight training from the Naval Air Training Command at Naval Air Station Pensacola,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, and Naval Air Station Kingsville,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In March 1960, he was designated a

United States Naval Aviator A naval aviator is a commissioned officer or warrant officer qualified as a crewed aircraft pilot in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps. United States Coast Guard crewed aircraft pilots are officially designated as "Coast Guard ...

and proceeded to Naval Air Station Key West for weapons system and carrier landing training in the Douglas F4D-1 Skyray. Between December 1960 and February 1964, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 102 ( VF-102), flying the Skyray and the McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II. He saw duty aboard and , including the latter's participation in the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

. For three months in early 1964, he was an instrument flight instructor in Attack Squadron 43 ( VA-43) at

Naval Air Station Oceana Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana or NAS Oceana is a United States Navy Naval Air Station located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The station is located on 23.9 square kilometers. It has total of 250 aircraft deployed and buildings valued at $800 mi ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, and then reported to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps unit at

for graduate studies in electrical engineering. During Naval service he gained flying proficiency in the Lockheed 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, and Beechcraft T-34B Mentor, and the

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first heli ...

G helicopter. He logged more than 5,200 hours flying time, including 5,000 hours in

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...

NASA career

At the age of 28, McCandless was selected as the youngest member of

NASA Astronaut Group 5 NASA Astronaut Group 5 (nicknamed "The Original Nineteen") was a group of nineteen astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. Of the six Lunar Module Pilots that walked on the Moon, three came from Group 5. The group as a whole is roughly sp ...

(jokingly labeled the "Original Nineteen" by John W. Young) in April 1966. According to space historian Matthew Hersch, McCandless and Group 5 colleague Don L. Lind were "effectively treated ... as scientist-astronauts" (akin to those selected in the fourth and sixth groups) by NASA due to their substantial scientific experience, an implicit reflection of their lack of the test pilot experience highly valued by Deke Slayton and other NASA managers at the time; this ultimately delayed their progression in the flight rotation. He served as mission control capsule communicator (CAPCOM) on

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

during the launch and during the first lunar moonwalk ( EVA) by

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

and

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( ; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three extravehicular activity, spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eag ...

before joining the astronaut support crew for the

Apollo 14 Apollo 14 (January 31February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, the third to Moon landing, land on the Moon, and the first to land in the Geology of the Moon#Highlands, lunar highlands. It was the las ...

mission, on which he doubled as a CAPCOM. Thereafter, McCandless was reassigned to the

Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...

program, where he received his first crew assignment as backup pilot for the space station's first crewed mission alongside backup commander

Rusty Schweickart Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart (also Schweikart; born October 25, 1935) is an American aeronautical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut, research scientist, United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft, fighter pilot, as well as ...

and backup science pilot

Story Musgrave Franklin Story Musgrave (born August 19, 1935) is an American physician and a retired NASA astronaut. He is a public speaker and consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California. In 1996, he became only the second a ...

. Following this assignment, he again served as a CAPCOM on Skylab 3 and

Skylab 4 Skylab 4 (also SL-4 and SLM-3) was the third crewed Skylab mission and placed the third and final human spaceflight, crew aboard the first American space station. The mission began on November 16, 1973, with the launch of Gerald P. Carr, Edwar ...

. 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 the

(MMU) used during Space Shuttle EVAs. Although he was classified as a Shuttle pilot until 1983, McCandless ultimately chose to work on the MMU as a mission specialist due to the prestige of the program (which ensured a flight assignment) and his lack of test pilot experience. He was responsible for crew inputs to the development of hardware and procedures for the

Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a Multistage rocket, two-stage, Solid-propellant rocket, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for ...

(IUS),

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

, the Solar Maximum Repair Mission, and the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

program. McCandless logged over 312 hours in space, including four hours of MMU flight time. He flew as a mission specialist on

STS-41-B STS-41-B was NASA's tenth Space Shuttle mission and the fourth flight of the . It launched on February 3, 1984 and landed on February 11, 1984, after deploying two communications satellites. It was also notable for including the first untethere ...

and STS-31.

STS-41-B

'' Challenger'' launched from

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight deployed two

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

s, and flight-tested rendezvous sensors and computer programs for the first time. This mission marked the first checkout of the 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 to make an untethered

. He described the experience: McCandless's first EVA lasted 6 hours and 17 minutes. The second EVA (in which Stewart used the MMU) lasted 5 hours and 55 minutes. On February 11, 1984, after eight days in orbit, ''Challenger'' made the first landing on the runway at Kennedy Space Center.

STS-31

On this five-day ''Discovery'' 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 . 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 and Kathryn D. Sullivan began preparing for a contingency

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. ''Discovery'' landed at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, on April 29, 1990.

After NASA

After retiring from NASA in 1990, McCandless worked for

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Lockheed Martin Space is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It has its headquarters in Littleton, Colorado, with additional sites in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Sunnyvale, California; Santa Cruz, California; Huntsville ...

Organizations

* United States Naval Academy

Alumni Association An alumni association or alumnae association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students ( alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, school A school is the educati ...

(class of 1958) *

United States Naval Institute The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds s ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

(IEEE) *

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecra ...

(AIAA) *

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

He was a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the American Astronautical Society and former president of the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Audubon Society.

Awards and honors

NASA Exceptional Service Medal The NASA Exceptional Service Medal is an award granted to U.S. government employees for significant sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvement in engineering, a ...

(1974) *

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It was awarded to every member of the U.S. Armed Forces who served during any one of four s ...

(1974) *

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces, which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John F. Kennedy. The medal is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who, a ...

(1974) * American Astronautical Society Victor A. Prather Award (1975 and 1985) * NASA Space Flight Medal (1984) *

Defense Distinguished Service Medal The Defense Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members for exceptionally distinguished performance of duty contributing to the ...

(1985) *

NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (abbreviated EEAM) was established by NASA in 1981 to recognize unusually significant engineering contributions towards achievement of aeronautical or space exploration goals. This award is given ...

(1985) * National Aeronautic Association Collier Trophy (1984) *

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

National Air and Space Museum Trophy (1985) *

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

(1988) * International Space Hall of Fame (1995) * United States Astronaut Hall of Fame (2005) He was awarded a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

for the design of a tool tethering system that was used during

spacewalks.

Personal life

McCandless was married to Bernice Doyle McCandless (1937–2014) for 53 years, and the couple had two children. His recreational interests included

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

, and flying. He also enjoyed

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

. In an August 2005 ''Smithsonian'' 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."Footloose
, '' Smithsonian'', August 2005; Retrieved October 9, 2010 On September 30, 2010, McCandless launched a lawsuit against British singer

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (located ...

for unauthorized use of a photo of his 1984 space flight for the album art of her 2008 album '' Safe Trip Home'', which showed McCandless "free flying" about 320 feet away from the Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. The lawsuit, which also named Sony Corp.'s

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and Getty Images as defendants, did not allege copyright infringement but infringement of his

persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

. The action was settled amicably on January 14, 2011. McCandless wrote the foreword to the book ''Live TV from Orbit'' by Dwight Steven-Boniecki. McCandless died on December 21, 2017, at age 80. He was survived by his second wife, Ellen Shields McCandless, two children and two grandchildren. McCandless is buried at the United 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 book ''Wonders All Around: The Incredible True Story of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II and the First Untethered Flight in Space.''

Legacy

, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy with McCandless in the Class of 1958, stated after McCandless' death:

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

later developed the McCandless Lunar Lander and named it after him. This honored him as an esteemed employee of the company, and also the fact that the MMU spacewalk was facilitated by the jetpack developed by Lockheed Martin.

References

External links

Astronautix biography of Bruce McCandless

Bruce McCandless famous spacewalk
NASA channel on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:McCandless, Bruce II 1937 births 2017 deaths United States Navy astronauts United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees People from Boston Aviators from Massachusetts American electrical engineers People from Long Beach, California American people of Scotch-Irish descent United States Naval Academy alumni Stanford University alumni University of Houston–Clear Lake alumni United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators Military personnel from Massachusetts Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal Collier Trophy recipients Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Wilson Classical High School alumni Engineers from California Burials at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery American flight instructors Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers Military personnel from California