On this day, 41 years ago, February 7, 1984 (January 6, 1984 in the lunar calendar), humans conducted their first spacewalk experiment. Flying in a backpack manual rocket device On February 7, 1984, two American astronauts became two human satellites for the first time after flying freely from the space shuttle Challenger. The miracle, created by astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert L. Stewart, was a test of a device that would ensure humans work at will in space. McCandless untethered and walked 170 meters in space for the first time.