I’m Onka Dekker.
Get back in! The first American spacewalk goes on for too long
Forty-eight years ago, on June 3rd, 1965, astronaut Edward White became the first American to walk in space. White climbed out of his Gemini space vehicle 216 kilometers above the earth. But he remained connected to the two-man spacecraft by a seven-meter-long lifeline that gave him oxygen. It also let him communicate with space flight controllers on the ground. He used a special hand-held propulsion device to move around in space.
White was having so much fun that he stayed outside the spacecraft for 20 minutes -- 8 minutes longer than planned. The flight director in Houston had to order him to get back inside.
HOUSTON: “Gemini Four (this is) Houston. Gemini Four (this is) Houston.”
GEMINI: “Let’s see what the flight director has got to say.”
HOUSTON: “The flight director says ‘Get back in!’”
GEMINI: “This is Jim. You got any message for us?”
HOUSTON: “Gemini Four! Get back in!”
GEMINI: “OK”
White was not the first human to walk in space. A few months earlier -- on March 18th, 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Alexi Leonov floated in space for ten minutes while connected to his Voskhod II spacecraft.
The two spacewalks showed that human beings could work outside their spacecraft. Less than two years after his historic spacewalk, Edward White died in a fire while training for another space mission.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25