OTD in Space – April 7: 1st Spacewalk from Space Shuttle

On April 7, 1983, astronauts took the first spacewalk outside of a space shuttle during mission STS-6. This was the maiden voyage of the space shuttle Challenger. The goal of this mission was to deploy the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1. NASA now uses a whole fleet of these satellites to relay communications between spacecraft in orbit and ground stations down on Earth. NASA astronauts Don Peterson and Story Musgrave spent 4 hours and 17 minutes working in the vacuum of space while doing a series of tests in the shuttle's payload bay. This was also the first time that NASA's Extravehicular Mobility Unit was worn by astronauts in space.