NASA is celebrating the first U.S. spacewalk 50 years ago with a new documentary on the history of humans working in their own private human-shaped spacecraft.
Astronaut Ed White became the first American to step into space on June 3, 1965, during NASA's Gemini 4 mission. The pictures and video of White on that first U.S. spacewalk, floating above Earth in a white spacesuit with tethers tumbling behind him, are still widely published today.
In the years since, astronauts have used spacewalks to explore the moon, perform vital repairs to the crippled Skylab space station, build the International Space Station, and snag satellites — including the Hubble Space Telescope, which had five servicing missions. [The Evolution of the Spacesuit in Photos]
The new NASA documentary, called "Suit Up," is narrated by Jon Cryer, who is best known for starring as Alan Harper in the TV sitcom "Two and a Half Men." You can see the full video on NASA's YouTube channel here. Over the last 50 years, NASA astronauts have performed 264 spacewalks, 184 of them dedicated to building the space station.
Spacewalking is considered a critical part of space exploration because humans are still best able to do the delicate repair and renovation jobs required to keep spacecraft healthy. This year, for example, astronauts are doing a series of spacewalks to add new docking ports to the International Space Station for commercial spacecraft.
"The documentary features interviews with NASA Administrator and astronaut, Charles Bolden, NASA Deputy Administrator and spacesuit designer, Dava Newman, as well as other astronauts, engineers, technicians, managers and luminaries of spacewalk history," NASA wrote in a statement.
"They share their personal stories that cover the full EVA experience — from spacesuit manufacturing to spacewalk maneuvering — all brought to life through historical and HD footage."
The documentary ran on NASA Television yesterday (June 1) and will also be available on the agency's YouTube channel.
The agency has a website for "Suit Up" that includes a spacewalk gallery and a history of spacewalking, among many other features. On the website, NASA invites the public to show how they "suit up" for their own jobs, be it firefighting or dancing or something else using the Twitter hashtag #SuitUp.
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