File: 2007002-0006
Former NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II signing autographs during Autographic 8 event. In a hotel, possibility off Bath Road, next to Heathrow Airport, London, England, United Kingdom. Saturday 3rd March 2007.
About the photograph.
This is the former NASA astronaut Captain Bruce McCandless II, seen here signing autographs for someone else whom is standing in front of him (out of camera view). I was waiting for my turn, and took a few photographs of him doing this task.
The autograph signing was done at a hotel, I can’t remember which hotel, but it is one of the hotels alongside Bath Road, on the north side of Heathrow Airport.
It was happening during a fan convention event called Autographic 8.
This was taken with my Minolta X-700 35mm film SLR camera, however I can’t remember which lens I used, and I can’t remember which film, but most likely Kodak which is always my primary choice, with Agfa as secondary choice.
A while later, it was my turn, I stepped forwards, and had the honour to meet him, got his autograph, and we both posed for the camera.
The film was sent away for develop and printing. The digital photos were either scanned to a CD-ROM at the same time as they were printed, or I may have scanned the prints to my computer. I think the first one is highly likely.
About the subject.
Bruce McCandless II was born under the name of Byron Willis McCandless, on June 8th, 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
A year later, his mother changed his name to Bruce McCandless II (named after his father).
He was in the United States Navy as an aviator, and flew McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom, stationed on the USS Forrestal and USS Enterprise. During his naval career, he flew at least 8 different aircraft and clocked over 5,000 flying hours.
At age of 28, he was training with NASA, and in 1969 he served as CAPCOM during the Apollo 11 mission.
His first spaceflight was STS-41-B onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger during February of 1984.
He became famous for the first man to do an untethered and free floating spacewalk, using the MMU.
His second flight was STS-31 on the Space Shuttle Discovery during April 1990. The mission was famous for the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope.
He retired from NASA in 1990, and passed away on December 21, 2017.
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