So back in 1965, Gemini 4 took NASA’s astronauts, James McDivitt and Ed White, on a joyride to space with some pretty lofty goals, like the first American spacewalk. The Soviets had already beaten them to it, so America wasn’t just going to sit this one out.
First things first, they tried to play tag with their Titan II booster in orbit. But that didn’t go well. So they scrapped that and moved on to the main event — White’s spacewalk.
Ed White floats out, sees Hawaii, and gets all emotional, while his fancy hand-held maneuvering gun runs out of gas in record time.
Communication snafus meant Ed missed the memo to return. Capcom Gus Grissom had to holler, “Gemini 4, get back in!”
White reluctantly wrapped it up. Despite some sweaty helmet issues, the mission was a win.
