June 3: America’s First Spacewalk

Today in history, June 3, 1965: astronaut Ed White opened the hatch of Gemini 4 and stepped into the void. For 23 minutes, he floated above Earth, using a small hand-held maneuvering gun while pilot James McDivitt watched from inside the capsule. The United States was still chasing the Soviet lead in space, but this moment proved American astronauts could work outside a spacecraft. Every repair walk on the International Space Station still traces back to that first brave step into open space.