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NASAThe astronaut who took this iconic photo is no more
In 1965, during the Gemini IV mission, James McDivitt photographed Ed White, the first American to float in space.
Jim McDivitt behind the lens and Ed White for the first American spacewalk. It was in 1965, during the Gemini IV mission.
NASA
“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the recent passing of Korean War veteran, ex-test pilot, aeronautical engineer and NASA astronaut Jim McDivitt. He had been selected to be part of the group 2 of the astronauts and commanded the Gemini IV mission in 1965 and Apollo 9 in 1969. Rest in peace”. Thus NASA pays tribute to one of its peers who died last Thursday at the age of 93.
This discreet legend is known for having taken the photos of his friend Ed White’s spacewalk, precisely during the Gemini IV mission. It was then the first extra-vehicular exit of an American in space and his pictures have entered the posterity of the space conquest.
Four years after the Gemini mission, McDivitt commanded the Apollo 9 mission, one of the less famous, yet crucial for NASA: it was the one that tested the first complete set of equipment to go to the moon, “the key to the whole program,” he summarized.
James McDivitt left NASA and the Air Force in 1972 for the private sector, including president of the famous Pullman wagon division and a senior position with aerospace company Rockwell International. He retired from the army with the rank of brigadier general. He died in Tucson, Arizona.