Viking_Yearbook_95

Spacewalk A jet-propelled astronaut unhooked his lifelines to the Space Shuttle Discovery and flew free, 150 miles above the Earth. It was the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years. Mark Lee (at right) was followed by fellow astronaut Carl Meade. They had but one jet pack between them - it cost $7 million, after all— and had to take turns. "This thing works like a champ," Lee said as he hovered over Discovery's cargo bay, firing the pack's 24 tiny nitrogen gas jets for the propulsion and steering with a joystick. In the trickiest exercise of the seven-hour spacewalk, each astronaut propelled himself along the length of the shuttle arm, to the elbow, and around the band, up to the end, and then back down again— all without using their hands. The jet pack was designed to be a life preserver for space station crews of the future. It weighs just 83 pounds on Earth, but, like everything else, nothing in space. Courtesy ofAssociated Press