Interview with Bruce McCandless

Published July 6, 2011

At a June gathering of astronauts during SpaceFest III held at the Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Atlantis’ final launch on Friday sparked strong opinions from nearly a dozen Apollo and shuttle astronauts. Shuttle astronaut retired Navy Capt. Bruce McCandless II, 74, Conifer, Colo., one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966, served as a member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 14, and was backup pilot for the first manned Skylab mission (SL-1/SL-2). He also collaborated on the development of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) used during shuttle external space walks. In February 1984, he flew aboard STS-41B Challenger and conducted the first, untethered, free flight on each of two MMU’s carried on board. He also flew aboard STS-31 Discovery, launched April 24, 1990 for a five-day mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope."