14 DAY TRIAL // On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Edward Higgins White, a.k.a. Ed White, made history when he became the first American to walk in space.
This first spacewalk for the US happened during the second manned spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini in June 1965, which had astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White circle our planet as many as 66 times over their 4-day mission.
The NASA astronauts were launched into space on June 3 at 15:15 UTC and returned to Earth on June 7 at 17:12 UTC. On the very first day of the mission, daredevil Ed White left the spacecraft and walked about in space for around 20 minutes.
Funnily enough, rumor has it the astronaut enjoyed the experience so much he wasn't exactly keen on returning to the spacecraft when the allotted time for his spacewalk was over. Hence, he had to be ordered back inside his space vehicle.
This mission during which NASA astronaut Ed White became the first US astronaut ever to go walkies in space was the 10th manned spaceflight for the country.
Next Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of Ed White's spacewalk
Wednesday next week will be the 50th anniversary of the historic spacewalk completed by Ed White on June 3, 1965, and NASA isn't about to let this celebration go by without understandably making a big fuss about it.
Au contraire, the space agency promises us several commemorative features on NASA Television and NASA.gov. Among them, a documentary narrated by actor Jon Cryer and telling the story of humankind's adventures in space.
The documentary, dubbed Suit Up, is set to premiere on June 1 at 10 a.m. EDT on NASA Television. Worry not if you miss it, as NASA promises to also make it available on its official website and its YouTube channel.
On June 2, from 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. EDT, NASA astronaut Mike Foreman will be present at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in the city of Houston in Texas for a conference on spacewalks over the past 50 years.
