First Person To Walk Untethered In Space Gives A Final Interview

But McCandless’s most memorable spacewalks, immortalized by a photo taken later during the mission, took place on his very first spaceflight. He’d been asked to test a new 300-pound Manned Maneuvering Unit, or MMU, which is basically a nitrogen-powered jetpack that allows astronauts to twist and turn through space as George Clooney’s character did in the movie Gravity. But this was no feature film, and to say that people were nervous about an unrecoverable malfunction is no overstatement.

So, McCandless decided to crack an inside space joke as he began talking with mission control in Houston.

“I think I can assert that my comment—that it may have been one small step for Neil, but it’s one heckuva of a big leap for me—was a) consciously thought out, b) a form of revenge for Neil not sharing his thoughts on stepping on the moon with me, and c) a way to say that things are going OK, don’t worry about it,” McCandless said. “It set the right tone, and on we went.”

Here, on the anniversary of his first untethered spacewalk, are McCandless’s thoughts about that photo, recorded during his last interview with National Geographic in July.

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What do you think of when you see yourself in that photo?

I had my sun visor down, in reality, for no particular reason other than keeping the sun out of my eyes, and so it could be just about anybody in there. And I think that’s part of the attraction. I guess it’s fair to say I’ve been amazed by the number of different folks who’ve come up to me and said, Hey, I have your picture in my bedroom. It’s really become iconic of the space program, and in some ways, it seems to represent the embodiment of humanity’s desire to be free from gravity and to be able to fly around in the cosmos.