Floating free: Anniversary of record-breaking space walk where astronaut 'flew' 320 feet from Space Shuttle

Twenty eight years ago, astronaut Bruce McCandless set a record for an untethered space walk - floating free from Space Shuttle Challenger for a distance of 320 feet.

The anniversary comes as today's Space Station expedition gears up for a six-hour space walk on February 16.

But McCandless's achievement was altogether more hair-raising - he travelled using a nitrogen 'jet pack, untethered in space. The 'jet packs' were discontinued after the Challenger disaster and have never been used again.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2100638/Floating-free-Anniversary-record-breaking-space-walk-astronaut-flew-320-feet-away-Space-Shuttle.html