One of his bios mentions he was deployed as a fighter pilot on a carrier participating in the Cuban blockade.

After sitting on the front-line of the potential end of the world, an untethered spacewalk probably seemed like just that - a walk.

As a young kid, I thought astronauts where just specially trained pilots like any other who happened to go into space. When I actually did some research on it I found out how wrong I was. Many of them helped engineer the equipment they used (as McCandless did). I've never had the chance to meet an astronaut but they also seem like good people in general.

I'm not a regular listener of Joe Rogan, but his interview with Chris Hadfield is fascinating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS0laJvgVxo

Interesting to hear about his experiences as an astronaut. I was not aware of the effects to the body after being in space for long periods of time.

I've now met several, and they've all been a real treat. Charlie Duke, Ken Mattingley, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Al Worden, Alan Bean, Tom Stafford, Eileen Collins, Scott Altman, and more.

In some sense they are very similar, and they all give credit to the men and women on the ground who made it happen. But they really do make it happen, and are amazing people.

Among them, Bruce McCandless was one of the best - an absolute gentleman, a brilliant speaker, and fascinating.

I'm sorry to see that he has passed from us.