Advertisement

Bruce McCandless II

Advertisement

Bruce McCandless II Famous memorial Veteran

Birth
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Death
21 Dec 2017 (aged 80)
Conifer, Jefferson County, Colorado, USA
Burial
Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA GPS-Latitude: 38.9879782, Longitude: -76.4901409
Memorial ID
View Source
US Astronaut. He was the first person to fly in space without being tethered to a spacecraft. He was the son of an admiral and grandson of a commodore. He received his B.S. Degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1958. He was designated as a naval aviator in 1960 after two years of flight training. He later served as both a fighter pilot and a U.S. Navy instrument flight instructor. In 1965 he earned his M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University and twenty two years later, his M.B.A. from the University of Houston at Clear Lake. He was among nineteen astronaut candidates selected in April of 1966 by NASA. He served as a member of the support crew for the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 and as the backup pilot for Skylab 2 in 1973. He also helped develop the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), a rocket-propelled backpack that was worn by an astronaut during shuttle spacewalks. His first space flight came in February of 1984, as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Challenger. During the flight, he became the first person to fly in space without being tethered to a spacecraft. He traveled 300 feet away from the shuttle. His second space flight came in April of 1990 on the space shuttle Discovery, which successfully deployed the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. After leaving NASA, he worked at Martin Marietta Corporation and was a senior research scientist at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado.
US Astronaut. He was the first person to fly in space without being tethered to a spacecraft. He was the son of an admiral and grandson of a commodore. He received his B.S. Degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1958. He was designated as a naval aviator in 1960 after two years of flight training. He later served as both a fighter pilot and a U.S. Navy instrument flight instructor. In 1965 he earned his M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University and twenty two years later, his M.B.A. from the University of Houston at Clear Lake. He was among nineteen astronaut candidates selected in April of 1966 by NASA. He served as a member of the support crew for the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 and as the backup pilot for Skylab 2 in 1973. He also helped develop the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), a rocket-propelled backpack that was worn by an astronaut during shuttle spacewalks. His first space flight came in February of 1984, as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Challenger. During the flight, he became the first person to fly in space without being tethered to a spacecraft. He traveled 300 feet away from the shuttle. His second space flight came in April of 1990 on the space shuttle Discovery, which successfully deployed the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. After leaving NASA, he worked at Martin Marietta Corporation and was a senior research scientist at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado.

Bio by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye



Advertisement

Advertisement

How famous was Bruce McCandless II?

Current rating: 4.18644 out of 5 stars

59 votes

Sign-in to cast your vote.

  • Maintained by: Find a Grave
  • Originally Created by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye
  • Added: Dec 22, 2017
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186060751/bruce-mccandless: accessed ), memorial page for Bruce McCandless II (8 Jun 1937–21 Dec 2017), Find a Grave Memorial ID 186060751, citing United States Naval Academy Cemetery, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.