COLORADAN, ASTRONAUT BRUCE McCANDLESS DIES
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless, the first person to fly freely and untethered in space, has died. The longtime Colorado resident was famously photographed in 1984 flying with a hefty spacewalker’s jetpack, alone in the cosmic blackness above the blue Earth.
Former astronaut Bruce McCandless, the first person to fly untethered in space, died Thursday in California. The 80-year-old was a longtime resident of Colorado with deep family ties to the state.
In February 1984, utilizing a Manned Maneuvering Unit, a jet-pack like instrument, McCandless traveled more than 300 feet away from the space shuttle Challenger. Photos of McCandless’ space walk, with a blue earth below and black space in the background, are iconic. McCandless said he took the first ever spacewalk of its kind in stride.
“I was grossly overtrained. 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,” he told the Boulder Daily Camera in 2006.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center announced his death Friday. The cause and manner of his death were not immediately released.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bruce’s family,” said Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s acting administrator, in a news release. “He will always be known for his iconic photo flying the MMU.”
Born on June 8, 1937, in Boston, McCandless became a third generation U.S. Navy officer as the son of Bruce McCandless, and grandson of Willis W. Bradley. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958, a classmate of Sen. John McCain.
As a naval aviator, McCandless participated in the Cuban blockade during the 1962 missile crisis.
As a retired U.S. Navy captain, McCandless was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He flew on two space shuttle missions: In 1984 on his famous spacewalk; and in 1990 when he helped to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. McCandless also served as the Mission Control capsule communicator in Houston as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in 1969.
The McCandless family has long roots in Colorado, moving to what is now Florence in the late 1800s. The town of Florence is named after his aunt, Florence McCandless, according to a Daily Camera story in 2006.
The Bruce McCandless Colorado State Veterans Nursing Home, a retirement and assisted living facility, still operates in Florence.
McCandless earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1965 and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Houston at Clear Lake in 1987.
The MMU device used by McCandless for the untethered spacewalk was designed, built and tested by Lockheed Martin at its Waterton Canyon facility and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
After retiring from the space program, McCandless became chief scientist of Lockheed’s Advanced Space Systems program in Colorado. He retired from Lockheed in 2006. McCandless was a Conifer area resident since the mid1990s. In January 2014, McCandless wife of 53-years, Bernice, died at the age of 76.
His survivors include his wife, Ellen Shields McCandless, of Conifer; his son, Bruce McCandless III, of Austin, Texas; his daughter, Tracy McCandless, of Islamorada, Fla.; and two granddaughters.