Bruce McCandless II

Bruce McCandless II (June 8, 1937 – December 21, 2017), (Capt, USN, Ret.), was an American naval officer and aviator, electrical engineer, and NASA astronaut. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. During the first of his two Space Shuttle missions he made the first ever untethered free flight using the Manned Maneuvering Unit in 1984.^[1][2] This action was settled amicably on January 14, 2011.

McCandless II in the 1980s

He logged more than 5,200 hours flying time, including 5,000 hours in jet aircraft.

On December 21, 2017, McCandless died in Denver, Colorado at age 80.^[3]

References

1. Footloose Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, Smithsonian magazine, August 2005; accessed 09/10/2010
2. "Astronaut McCandless Sues Singer Dido Over 'Free Flying' Photo" – via www.bloomberg.com.
3. "Bruce McCandless, First Astronaut To Fly Untethered In Space, Has Died". NPR.org.

Other websites

• McCandless' official NASA biography Archived 2007-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
• Astronautix biography of Bruce McCandless
• Spacefacts biography of Bruce McCandless
• McCandless at Spaceacts Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
• McCandless at Encyclopedia of Science
• McCandless at International Space Hall of Fame Archived 2017-06-12 at the Wayback Machine