On this day in 1965, U.S astronaut Edward H. White became the first American to conduct a spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission. His 23 minute mission lasted from his exit from the capsule over the Pacific to his return while over the Gulf of Mexico. He used a maneuvering gun to push himself away from the capsule as well as to push himself back.
At the end of his spacewalk, Ed White stated:
I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life.
Ed White later died in the launchpad explosion of Apollo 1 in 1967, along with astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom and Roger B. Chaffee.
An Apollo 1 crew memorial is located at Arlington National Cemetery (shown below) with the inscription, “Ad Astra per Aspera,” which in Latin means, “A rough road leads to the stars.”
Our Awesome Universe 