Bruce McCandless II

Bruce McCandless II flies free, STS-41-B, February 1984 No tether, no umbilical, nothing connecting him to Challenger. McCandless steered the nitrogen-powered Manned Maneuvering Unit about 300 feet from the shuttle on the first untethered spacewalk, and the image of a lone figure against black space and blue Earth became the shuttle era's poster. The backpack flew on only three missions, all in 1984.