OTD In Space - June 3: First American Spacewalk

On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space.

White left the safety of his Gemini 4 spacecraft equipped with a spacesuit, a tether and a small gas gun for maneuvering. The spacewalk occurred just months after the first-ever spacewalk by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, on March 18, 1965. White floated near the spacecraft for about 23 minutes. He was reluctant to finish his spacewalk because the experience was so exhilarating. He had to be ordered back into the spacecraft. While re-entering, White said, “I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life. There was a problem with the hatch mechanism, making it difficult for White to open and re-latch. This threatened the lives of both White and Command Pilot James McDivitt. But they were eventually able to get White in, making history in the process.