On this day in space! June 3, 1965: First American spacewalk

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On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space.

On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space. White left the safety of his Gemini 4 spacecraft equipped with a spacesuit, a tether and a small gas gun for maneuvering. The spacewalk occurred just months after the first-ever spacewalk by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, on March 18, 1965.

White floated near the spacecraft for about 23 minutes. He was reluctant to finish his spacewalk because the experience was so exhilarating. He had to be ordered back into the spacecraft. While re-entering, White said, "I'm coming back in… and it's the saddest moment of my life."

Gemini IV: Inside NASA's First Spacewalk Mission (Photos)

an astronaut in a white spacesuit is seen from below and behind while on a spacewalk outside his space capsule. Earth below serves as a backdrop. (Image credit: NASA)

There was a problem with the hatch mechanism, making it difficult for White to open and re-latch. This threatened the lives of both White and Command Pilot James McDivitt. But they were eventually able to get White in, making history in the process.

On This Day in Space: See our full 365-day video archive!

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Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.