Step Outside

Shuck the spacecraft. 182 spacewalkers have.

  • By Tony Reichhardt
  • Photographs by NASA
  • Air & Space magazine, July 2009
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In NASA jargon it’s called “egress” — the moment an astronaut leaves the hatch to begin a spacewalk (here during shuttle mission STS-92 in 2000). In NASA jargon, it’s called “egress” — the moment an astronaut leaves the hatch to begin a spacewalk (here, during shuttle mission STS-92 in 2000).

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    <b>1965: Human Satellite</b><br> The first U.S. spacewalk, on Gemini 4 in June 1965, was surprisingly easy, almost playful at times. Mission control couldn’t hear Ed White very well—there was a problem with his microphone. So crewmate Jim McDivitt narrated the action while White drifted on his 25-foot tether and admired the view. When White planted his boots on the tiny spacecraft, McDivitt laughed, “You’re smearing up my windshield, you dirty dog.” White propelled himself with a little “zip gun” that fired compressed gas. He loved it—so much so that McDivitt had to badger him to come back inside. The whole thing lasted just 36 minutes. Gemini 9, on the other hand, was nearly a disaster. Gene Cernan worked so hard trying to get into an Air Force-built jet backpack called the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit that the exertion made his helmet visor fog up, and he had to cut the spacewalk short. Problems with this and later Gemini EVAs sent NASA back to the drawing board to redesign the suit and hatch and make other fixes. By the time of Buzz Aldrin’s three Gemini 12 outings in November 1966, EVA had become a science. Many of the spacewalking procedures in use today were developed during the Gemini program.

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    From the beginning, NASA knew astronauts would have to leave their spacecraft. They’d have to fix things outside, transfer between orbiting vehicles in an emergency, and—most ambitious of all—walk on the moon.

    All the techniques of extravehicular activity (EVA) had to be invented and perfected beforehand—how to “ingress” and “egress” through hatches, then airlocks; how to pre-breathe oxygen to avoid the bends (which also afflicts divers); how to anchor yourself in weightlessness; and how to maintain a comfortable temperature in your spacesuit.

    Today, with more than 300 spacewalks logged since Alexei Leonov’s first, on Voskhod 2 in March 1965, orbiting construction workers clamber around a space station the size of a skyscraper with hardly a thought to their surroundings. What once seemed magical has become standard operating procedure. See the photo gallery at right for more on the history of spacewalks.

    Tony Reichhardt is a senior editor at Air & Space/Smithsonian.

    From the beginning, NASA knew astronauts would have to leave their spacecraft. They’d have to fix things outside, transfer between orbiting vehicles in an emergency, and—most ambitious of all—walk on the moon.

    All the techniques of extravehicular activity (EVA) had to be invented and perfected beforehand—how to “ingress” and “egress” through hatches, then airlocks; how to pre-breathe oxygen to avoid the bends (which also afflicts divers); how to anchor yourself in weightlessness; and how to maintain a comfortable temperature in your spacesuit.

    Today, with more than 300 spacewalks logged since Alexei Leonov’s first, on Voskhod 2 in March 1965, orbiting construction workers clamber around a space station the size of a skyscraper with hardly a thought to their surroundings. What once seemed magical has become standard operating procedure. See the photo gallery at right for more on the history of spacewalks.

    Tony Reichhardt is a senior editor at Air & Space/Smithsonian.




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