Latest news with #Gemini4
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
60 years ago, Ed White went out for walk
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. On this day (June 3) 60 years ago, a NASA astronaut stepped outside his Gemini spacecraft and made history as the first American to perform an extavehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk. NASA astronaut Edward H. White II left his Gemini 4 capsule and crew mate Jim McDivitt for a 20-minute spacewalk on June 3, 1965. It was only the second extravehicular activity (EVA) ever made (the first was by Soviet-era cosmonaut Alexei Leonov a few months earlier) and the first by an American. White brought with him a camera and a small jet pack; the latter did not work very well. He was connected to his spacecraft by an umbilical. Gemini 4 entered an orbit about Earth between 103 and 180 miles (165 and 289 kilometers) in altitude. During the spacewalk, White was in radio contact with ground controllers in Hawaii and Houston. There are other, better-composed photos of White on the same historic spacewalk, but this one can be used to illustrate one of, if not the most important lesson NASA learned from his EVA: They did not know how yet to spacewalk. White floated well enough, but he had no real control of his movements, even with a prototype handheld jet pack. There were no handrails for him to use on the outside of the Gemini capsule, and he had not trained in neutral buoyancy underwater — the best analog for the conditions in the vacuum of space. Still, even with the troubles he encountered, White called the end of his EVA the "saddest moment" of his life. You can read more about the history and basics of spacewalking and learn more about Ed White's Gemini 4 EVA.
Digital Trends
3 days ago
- General
- Digital Trends
10 amazing images to mark 60 years of U.S. spacewalks
On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to exit a spacecraft in orbit. 'This is the greatest experience, it's just tremendous,' White said as he floated outside the Gemini 4 spacecraft on that historic day. Recommended Videos To mark the 60th anniversary since the first U.S. spacewalk, we've compiled a collection of 10 awesome images captured during the first-ever U.S walk, as well as subsequent walks that have taken place over the years. 1. First up, Ed White during his historic spacewalk on June 3, 1965. For his safety, the record-setting astronaut was secured to the spacecraft by a 25-foot umbilical line and tether during his 20-minute adventure. 2. NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski appears to wave to the camera while attached to a foot restraint at the end of the Space Shuttle's Orbiter Boom Sensor System during a spacewalk in 2007. 3. NASA's John B. Herrington, seen at the far left of the image, during a walk outside the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2002. 4. NASA astronaut Suni Williams pictured secured to the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, with the orbital facility's solar arrays behind her during a walk in 2025. 5. With a dramatic cloudy backdrop, astronaut Robert L. Curbeam, Jr. can be seen during a spacewalk at the space station in 2006. 6. Bruce McCandless II is seen approaching his maximum distance from the Space Shuttle Challenger in an extraordinary spacewalk in 1984 that saw him become the first astronaut to maneuver in space untethered. McCandles was trialing a nitrogen-propelled, hand-controlled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit. 7. Reid Wiseman takes part in a 2014 spacewalk at the space station some 250 miles above Earth. During the 6-hour, 13-minute spacewalk, Wiseman and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst worked outside the station's Quest airlock, relocating a failed cooling pump to external stowage and installing gear that provides back up power to external robotics equipment. 8. NASA's Christina Koch snaps a 'space selfie' with Earth behind her. She and fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir worked outside the ISS for more than seven hours during the first-ever all-woman spacewalk in 2019. 9. American astronaut Dale A. Gardner gets up close and personal with the spinning WESTAR VI satellite during a mission in 1984. Gardner used a special device to stabilize the communications spacecraft sufficiently so that it could be captured and placed in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery for return to Earth. 10. Astronauts Carl Meade and Mark Lee during a spacewalk in 1994. Lee can be seen attached to the Space Shuttle's robotic arm.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
On This Day 60 Years Ago: The First American Spacewalk
Sixty years ago, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space. The Texas native performed the first spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission on June 3, 1965. The event occurred over the Pacific Ocean, starting at 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time near Hawaii. The trip lasted 23 minutes, eventually ending over the Gulf. In the end, he had traveled 6,500 miles at a speed of 17,000 miles per hour. White used a handheld maneuvering oxygen jet gun to push himself out of the capsule and move back and forth to the end of a 26-foot-long tether. Once the jet gun fuel expired, White pulled himself back and forth with the tether. When the spacewalk ended, White returned to the capsule, famously stating, 'This is the saddest moment of my life.' The 4-day Gemini mission helped study the effects of prolonged spaceflight. White was the mission pilot, while James McDivitt served as the mission commander.
