The Explorers' Club, № MXI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-41-B, Part II
4-11 February 1984: McCandless & Stewart performed two E.V.A. (7 & 9 February), each flying the Manned Maneuvering Unit (M.M.U.) jetpack untethered from the Orbiter; McCandless flew out more than three hundred feet; after 128 orbits, the Challenger became the first Space Shuttle to land at K.S.C.'s Shuttle Landing Facility, & thus the first spacecraft to launch from & land at the same site.

Commentary: Both Brand & McCandless were selected with Astronaut Group 5 in 1966; S.T.S.-41-B was Brand's third spaceflight, but McCandless's first. The photographs of McCandless's & Stewart's untethered flights with the M.M.U. are among the most iconic images of the early Space Shuttle era.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-41-B
William Shatner featuring Ritchie Blackmore & Candice Night, "Space Oddity" from Seking Major Tom (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.