Bruce McCandless II American Mission Specialist-Astronaut. Born 8 June 1937, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Male, Married, two children. Selected as astronaut 4 April 1966, NASA Group. Launched on 2 space flights accumulating 13.02 days total time in space. Participated in 2 spacewalks, total time 11.62 hours. Left astronaut service 1990.
Official NASA Biography
NAME: Bruce McCandless II (Captain, USN)
NASA Astronaut
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Born June 8, 1937, in Boston, Massachusetts.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Brown hair; blue eyes; height: 5 feet 10 inches; weight: 155 pounds.
EDUCATION: Graduate of Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, Long Beach, California; received a bachelor of science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1958, a master of science degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1965, and a masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Houston at Clear Lake in 1987.
MARITAL STATUS: Married to the former Bernice Doyle of Rahway, New Jersey. Her mother, Mrs. Charles Doyle, resides in Milton, Florida.
CHILDREN: Bruce III, August 15, 1961; Tracy, July 13, 1963.
RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: His hobbies are electronics, photography, scuba diving, and flying. He also enjoys swimming and cross country skiing.
ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association (Class of 1958), the U.S. Naval Institute, the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers, the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the National Audubon Society; fellow of the American Astronautical Society, and former president of the Houston Audubon Society.
SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Legion of Merit (1988), the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal (1985), and holder of the National Defense Service Medal and the American Expeditionary Service Medal; presented the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1974), the American Astronautical Society Victor A. Prather Award (1975 & 1985), the NASA Space Flight Medal (1984), NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (1985), the National Aeronautic Association Collier Trophy (1985), and the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum Trophy (1985). Awarded one patent for the design of a tool tethering system that is currently used during Shuttle "spacewalks".
 | STS-41-B View of Astronaut Bruce McCandless during EVA Credit: NASA 507 x 473 pixels - 52,329 bytes |
He has gained flying proficiency in the T-33B Shootingstar, T-38A Talon, F-4B Phanton II, F-6A Skyray, F-11 Tiger, TF-9J Cougar, T-1 Seastar, and T-34B Mentor airplane, and the Bell 47G helicopter. He has logged more than 5,200 hours flying time -- 5,000 hours in jet aircraft.
NASA EXPERIENCE: McCandless is one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He was a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 14 mission and was backup pilot for the first manned Skylab mission (SL-1/SL-2). He was a co-investigator on the M-509 astronaut maneuvering unit experiment which was flown in the Skylab Program, and collaborated on the development of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) used during Shuttle EVA's. He has been responsible for crew inputs to the development of hardware and procedures for the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), Space Telescope, the Solar Maximum Repair Mission, and the Space Station Program.
 | STS-41-B View of Astronaut Bruc McCandless during EVA Credit: NASA 470 x 472 pixels - 30,305 bytes |
More recently, McCandless was a mission specialist on the crew of STS-31, which launched on April 24, 1990, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew members aboard Space Shuttle Discovery included Col. Loren J. Shriver, USAF, (spacecraft commander), Col. Charles F. Bolden, USMC, (pilot), and Drs. Steven A. Hawley and Kathryn D. Sullivan (mission specialists). During this 5 day mission, crew members deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, and conducted a variety of cameras, including both the IMAX in cabin and cargo bay cameras, for earth observations from their record setting altitude of 380 miles. Following 76 orbits of the earth in 121 hours, STS-31 Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on April 29, 1990.
 | STS-41-B Close-up view of Astronaut McCandless during his EVA Credit: NASA 481 x 474 pixels - 50,778 bytes |
MAY 1990
- January 1971: Support Crew Apollo 14.
- May 1973: Backup Crew Skylab 2.
- February 1984: Prime Crew STS-41-B. Flight Time: 7.97 days. Flight details: STS-41-B.
- August 1986: Proposed Prime Crew STS-61-J.
- April 1990: Prime Crew STS-31. Flight Time: 5.05 days. Flight details: STS-31.
McCandless Chronology
- 1971 Jan 31 - Apollo 14 Assignment: Support Crew. Flight details: Apollo 14.
The Apollo 14 (AS-509) mission - manned by astronauts Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell - was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, at 4:03 p.m. EST January 31 on a Saturn V launch vehicle. A 40-minute hold had been ordered 8 minutes before scheduled launch time because of unsatisfactory weather conditions, the first such delay in the Apollo program. Activities during earth orbit and translunar injection were similar to those of the previous lunar landing missions. However, during transposition and docking, CSM 110 Kitty Hawk had difficulty docking with LM-8 Antares. A hard dock was achieved on the sixth attempt at 9:00 p.m. EST, 1 hour 54 minutes later than planned. Other aspects of the translunar journey were normal and proceeded according to flight plan. A crew inspection of the probe and docking mechanism was televised during the coast toward the moon. The crew and ground personnel were unable to determine why the CSM and LM had failed to dock properly, but there was no indication that the systems would not work when used later in the flight.
Apollo 14 entered lunar orbit at 1:55 a.m. EST on February 4. At 2:41 a.m. the separated S-IVB stage and instrument unit struck the lunar surface 174 kilometers southeast of the planned impact point. The Apollo 12 seismometer, left on the moon in November 1969, registered the impact and continued to record vibrations for two hours.
After rechecking the systems in the LM, astronauts Shepard and Mitchell separated the LM from the CSM and descended to the lunar surface. The Antares landed on Fra Mauro at 4:17 a.m. EST February 5, 9 to 18 meters short of the planned landing point. The first EVA began at 9:53 a.m., after intermittent communications problems in the portable life support system had caused a 49-minute delay. The two astronauts collected a 19.5-kilogram contingency sample; deployed the TV, S-band antenna, American flag, and Solar Wind Composition experiment; photographed the LM, lunar surface, and experiments; deployed the Apollo lunar surface experiments package 152 meters west of the LM and the laser-ranging retroreflector 30 meters west of the ALSEP; and conducted an active seismic experiment, firing 13 thumper shots into the lunar surface.
A second EVA period began at 3:11 a.m. EST February 6. The two astronauts loaded the mobile equipment transporter (MET) - used for the first time - with photographic equipment, tools, and a lunar portable magnetometer. They made a geology traverse toward the rim of Cone Crater, collecting samples on the way. On their return, they adjusted the alignment of the ALSEP central station antenna in an effort to strengthen the signal received by the Manned Space Flight Network ground stations back on earth.
Just before reentering the LM, astronaut Shepard dropped a golf ball onto the lunar surface and on the third swing drove the ball 366 meters. The second EVA had lasted 4 hours 35 minutes, making a total EVA time for the mission of 9 hours 24 minutes. The Antares lifted off the moon with 43 kilograms of lunar samples at 1:48 p.m. EST February 6.
Meanwhile astronaut Roosa, orbiting the moon in the CSM, took astronomy and lunar photos, including photos of the proposed Descartes landing site for Apollo 16.
Ascent of the LM from the lunar surface, rendezvous, and docking with the CSM in orbit were performed as planned, with docking at 3:36 p.m. EST February 6. TV coverage of the rendezvous and docking maneuver was excellent. The two astronauts transferred from the LM to the CSM with samples, equipment, and film. The LM ascent stage was then jettisoned and intentionally crashed on the moon's surface at 7:46 p.m. The impact was recorded by the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 ALSEPs.
The spacecraft was placed on its trajectory toward earth during the 34th lunar revolution. During transearth coast, four inflight technical demonstrations of equipment and processes in zero gravity were performed.
The CM and SM separated, the parachutes deployed, and other reentry events went as planned, and the Kitty Hawk splashed down in mid-Pacific at 4:05 p.m. EST February 9 about 7 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. New Orleans. The Apollo 14 crew returned to Houston on February 12, where they remained in quarantine until February 26.
All primary mission objectives had been met. The mission had lasted 216 hours 40 minutes and was marked by the following achievements:
- Third manned lunar landing mission and return.
- Use of mobile equipment transporter (MET).
- Payload of 32,500 kilograms placed in lunar orbit.
- Distance of 3.3 kilometers traversed on lunar surface.
- Payload of 43.5 kilograms returned from the lunar surface.
- Lunar surface stay time of 33 hours.
- Lunar surface EVA of 9 hours 47 minutes.
- Use of shortened rendezvous technique.
- Service propulsion system orbit insertion.
- Active seismic experiment.
- Inflight technical demonstrations.
- Extensive orbital science period during CSM solo operations.
- 1973 May 25 - Skylab 2 Assignment: Backup Crew. Flight details: Skylab 2.
Epic repair mission which brought Skylab into working order. Included such great moments as Conrad being flung through space by the whiplash after heaving on the solar wing just as the debris constraining it gave way; deployment of a lightweight solar shield, developed in Houston in one week, which brought the temperatures down to tolerable levels. With this flight US again took manned spaceflight duration record.
Skylab 2 , consisting of a modified Apollo CSM payload and a Saturn IB launch vehicle, was inserted into Earth orbit approximately 10 minutes after liftoff. The orbit achieved was 357 by 156 km and, during a six-hour period following insertion, four maneuvers placed the CSM into a 424 by 415 km orbit for rendezvous with the Orbital Workshop. Normal rendezvous sequencing led to stationkeeping during the fifth revolution followed by a flyaround inspection of the damage to the OWS. The crew provided a verbal description of the damage in conjunction with 15 minutes of television coverage. The solar array system wing (beam) 2 was completely missing. The solar array system wing (beam) 1 was slightly deployed and was restrained by a fragment of the meteoroid shield. Large sections of the meteoroid shield were missing. Following the flyaround inspection, the CSM soft-docked with the OWS at 5:56 p.m. EDT to plan the next activities. At 6:45 p.m. EDT the CSM undocked and extravehicular activity was initiated to deploy the beam 1 solar array. The attempt failed. Frustration of the crew was compounded when eight attempts were required to achieve hard docking with the OWS. The hard dock was made at 11:50 p.m. EDT, terminating a Skylab 2 first-day crew work period of 22 hours. Additional Details: Skylab 2.
- 1984 Feb 3 - STS-41-B Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight details: STS-41-B.
Manned five crew. Deployed Westar 6, Palapa B2; tested Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). Payloads: PALAPA-B2 (Indonesian communications satellite) with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D and WESTAR (Western Union communications satellite)-Vl with PAM-D. Both satellites were deployed but the PAM-D in each satellite failed to ignite, leaving both satellites in earth orbit. Both satellites were retrieved and returned to earth for renovation on the STS-51-A mission. The manned maneuvering unit (MMU) was tested with extravehicular astronauts as free flyers without tethers as far as 98 m from the orbiter. Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS)-01 experiments, Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Isoelectric Focusing Experiment (lEF), Acoustic Containerless Experiment System (ACES), Cinema 360 cameras, five getaway specials (GAS), Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification (ACIP)/High Resolution Accelerom-eter Package (HIRAP). Additional Details: STS-41-B.
- 1984 Feb 7 - EVA STS-10-1 Assignment: EVA Crew.
Tested MMU manoeuvring unit in free flight.
- 1984 Feb 9 - EVA STS-10-2 Assignment: EVA Crew.
Tested MMU manoeuvring unit in free flight.
- 1986 August - STS-61-J Assignment: Proposed Prime Crew. Flight details: STS-61-J.
Planned shuttle mission for deployment of Hubble space telescope. Cancelled after Challenger disaster.
- 1990 Apr 24 - STS-31 Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight details: STS-31.
Deployed HST (Hubble Space Telescope). Payloads: Deployment of Hubble Space Telescope, IMAX camera in payload bay and in crew compartment, Protein Crystal Growth III-03, Investigation Into Polymer Membrane Process-ing- 01, Air Force Maui Optical Site-05, Radiation Monitoring Equipment III-01, Student Experiment 82-16, and Ascent Particle Monitor 01. Additional Details: STS-31.