Real name: Bruce McCandless II

A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Bruce McCandless II began his NASA career in 1966 and held several positions before his spaceflight career launched aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1985. During the historic Apollo 11 mission, Bruce served as CAPCOM, meaning he was responsible for all communications between Mission Control (Houston) and the Apollo 11 astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.

In addition to his CAPCOM role, McCandless was part of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 14, served as the backup pilot for the first manned Skylab mission, co-investigator on the M-509 astronaut maneuvering unit experiment (Skylab), and worked on the development of the manned maneuvering unit (MMU) used during shuttle spacewalks (EVAs).

McCandless helped with crew inputs for hardware and procedural developments of the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), Space Telescope, Solar Maximum Repair Mission, and the Space Station Program. Bruce logged over 312 hours in space including four hours as part of the first untethered spacewalk with the help of the MMU. He served as a Mission Specialist for two shuttle missions – STS-41B and STS-31.

When asked about his MMU experience Bruce said, “It may have been one small step for Neil, but it was one heck of a big leap for me.”