Jamie Carter is a freelance journalist and regular Live Science contributor based in Cardiff, U.K. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and lectures on astronomy and the natural world. Jamie regularly writes for Space.com, TechRadar.com, Forbes Science, BBC Wildlife magazine and Scientific American, and many others.
Who it is: Bruce McCandless II, a NASA astronaut, testing the Manned Maneuvering Unit during space shuttle mission STS-41-BWhy it's so special: This week is the 40th anniversary of the first untethered spacewalk. On Feb. 7, 1984, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II strapped on a hand-controlled backpack and, propelled by its nitrogen gas thrusters, flew out of the space shuttle Challenger payload bay.
The moment was immortalized by Robert"Hoot" Gibson, Challenger's pilot. He used a Hasselblad camera to capture McCandless flying solo high above Earth. The images became arguably the most iconic of the entire space shuttle program.Although the images were unplanned, Gibson knew instantly that they would be iconic, so he took three light-meter readings and checked the focus four times for each photograph, according to NASA.
"It may have been one small step for Neil," McCandless said as he orbited Earth solo,"but it's a heck of a big leap for me." —Space photo of the week: Ancient 'labyrinth of night' on Mars, one of the biggest mazes in the solar systemFittingly, McCandless served as the voice of NASA's Mission Control during 1969's Apollo 11 and 1971's Apollo 14 missions.
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