On Feb. 7, 1984, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless ended up being the very first individual to go on a spacewalk without a tether. McCandless was using a kind of jetpack called the Manned Maneuvering Unit, or MMU. The MMU fit over a routine EMU spacesuit and consisted of gas thrusters that enabled astronauts to venture much farther away from the space shuttle bus. NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless carries out an untethered spacewalk. (Image credit: NASA) McCandless had the ability to venture 320 feet away from the area shuttle Challenger. The MMU was used during three space shuttle missions in 1984, and astronauts used it to obtain two defective interactions satellites.Catch up on our whole “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist. On This Day in Space Archive! Still insufficient space? Dont forget to inspect out our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week. Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
