On April 20th, in the ongoing exploration of the vast cosmos, humanity has captured many spectacular moments. Recently, a blogger known as "NASA Enthusiast" released a space photo of an astronaut's spacewalk, labeling it as "one of the most terrifying space photos to date".
What makes it terrifying is that this marks the first untethered spacewalk in human history. The entire person is suspended in the dark void of space, with the azure Earth in the background. They appear like a satellite, incredibly small and vulnerable in the vastness, evoking a sense of helplessness.
It is understood that the concept of spacewalking was first proposed in a scientific context by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. In his book "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices," he not only suggested the possibility of humans walking in space but also outlined the necessity of providing spacewalkers with spacesuits, airlocks, and safety tethers.
Surprisingly, this concept was first realized by American astronauts. On February 7, 1984, astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart of the US space shuttle Challenger successfully performed spacewalks.
McCandless used a jet-powered backpack to propel himself away from the shuttle to a distance of 320 feet (about 97 meters) for 90 minutes before returning safely. He then passed the backpack to Stewart, who ventured out to a distance of 92 meters from the shuttle and spent 65 minutes outside.
The photo taken from a more distant perspective has a greater visual impact.
It sounds straightforward, but behind it lies enormous risk, considering it was in the 1980s.
Tetherless drifting in space is like a novice swimmer letting go of their flotation device for the first time. Any mistake would mean being stranded in space indefinitely, as rescue missions were nearly impossible with the technology available at the time.
