Bruce McCandless II

At 80 years old, Bruce McCandless II physical status not available right now. We will update Bruce McCandless II's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

At the age of 28, McCandless was selected as the youngest member of NASA Astronaut Group 5 (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 would ultimately delay their progression in the flight rotation.

He served as mission control capsule communicator (CAPCOM) on Apollo 11 during the launch and during the first lunar moonwalk (EVA) by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin before joining the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 14 mission, on which he doubled as a CAPCOM. Thereafter, McCandless was reassigned to the Skylab program, where he received his first crew assignment as backup pilot for the space station's first crewed mission alongside backup commander Rusty Schweickart and backup science pilot Story Musgrave. Following this assignment, he again served as a CAPCOM on Skylab 3 and Skylab 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 the Manned Maneuvering Unit (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 (IUS), Hubble Space Telescope, the Solar Maximum Repair Mission, and the International Space Station 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 and STS-31.

Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight deployed two communications satellites, 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 spacewalk. 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.

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 380 miles (610 km).

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 spacewalk 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, California, on April 29, 1990.

Source

• NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1974)
• National Defense Service Medal (1974)
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1974)
• American Astronautical Society Victor A. Prather Award (1975 and 1985)
• NASA Space Flight Medal (1984)
• Defense Distinguished Service Medal (1985)
• NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (1985)
• National Aeronautic Association Collier Trophy (1984)
• Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum Trophy (1985)
• Legion of Merit (1988)
• International Space Hall of Fame (1995)
• United States Astronaut Hall of Fame (2005)