First Steps: America’s Grueling Second Spacewalk

One year after Gemini IV astronaut Edward H. White completed NASA’s first spacewalk the agency prepared for a demanding second excursion.

Originally scheduled for Gemini VIII, the extravehicular activity (EVA) was reassigned to Gemini IX-A after that mission ended early, with Gene Cernan taking on the task.

On June 5, 1966—the mission’s third day—Cernan exited […]