The first American spacewalk was on June 3, 1965

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - NASA astronaut Major Edward H. White, II became the first American to walk in space on June 3, 1965.

It was part of the Gemini 4 mission. White opened the hatch to the spacecraft and used a hand-held oxygen-jet gun to push himself out.

NASA reports show he left the capsule over the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. White propelled to the end of the 8-meter tether and back three times. The walk lasted 23 minutes. By the time it ended, he was over the Gulf of Mexico.

Ed White was not the first person to walk in space. On March 18, 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov completed the first successful space walk for the Soviet Union as part of that decade’s space race.