STAR TREK

MARION MCMULLEN marks the 60th anniversary of the first spacewalk by an American astronaut

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"I'M coming back in... and it's the saddest moment of my life," said Ed White as he became the first US astronaut to walk in space.

He made history 60 years ago when he opened the hatch of the Gemini IV capsule and spent nearly 23 minutes calmly floating above the Earth. He later said the spacewalk was the highlight of the entire mission for him and had ended much too soon.

The Gemini 4 spaceship was launched by a Titan II rocket on June 3, 1965, with Ed and James McDivitt on board.

The two Americans enjoyed a breakfast of steak and eggs before take-off at Cape Kennedy and joked that they only had enough food on board for their space mission to last four days.

James later explained how tight the inside of the Gemini capsule was for them both. There was no space to stretch all the way out and once inside they had to remain in their seats for the entire mission.

Those seats came equipped with emergency ejection devices. The rest of the space was filled with instrument panels, vital life support equipment and storage compartments.

The capsule’s two large hatches also had small windows that could be opened outwards.