[2] Between December 1960 and February 1964, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 102 (VF-102), flying the Skyray and the McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II.

[2] For three months in early 1964, he was an instrument flight instructor in Attack Squadron 43 (VA-43) at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, and then reported to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps unit at Stanford University for graduate studies in electrical engineering.

[2] During Naval service he gained flying proficiency in the Lockheed T-33B Shooting Star, Northrop T-38A Talon, McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II, Douglas F4D Skyray, Grumman F11F Tiger, Grumman F9F Cougar, Lockheed T-1 Seastar, and Beechcraft T-34B Mentor, and the Bell 47G helicopter.

[3] At the age of 28, McCandless was selected as the youngest member of NASA Astronaut Group 5 (jokingly labeled the "Original Nineteen" by John W. Young) in April 1966.

[4] According to space historian Matthew Hersch, McCandless and Group 5 colleague Don L. Lind were "effectively treated ... as scientist-astronauts" (akin to those selected in the fourth and sixth groups) by NASA due to their substantial scientific experience, an implicit reflection of their lack of the test pilot experience highly valued by Deke Slayton and other NASA managers at the time; this would ultimately delay their progression in the flight rotation.

[5] He served as mission control capsule communicator (CAPCOM) on Apollo 11 during the launch and during the first lunar moonwalk (EVA) by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin before joining the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 14 mission, on which he doubled as a CAPCOM.

The flight deployed two communications satellites, and flight-tested rendezvous sensors and computer programs for the first time.

It was a wonderful feeling, a mix of personal elation and professional pride: it had taken many years to get to that point.McCandless's first EVA lasted 6 hours and 17 minutes.

[12] On February 11, 1984, after eight days in orbit, Challenger made the first landing on the runway at Kennedy Space Center.

The array eventually came free and unfurled through ground control, while McCandless and Sullivan were pre-breathing inside the partially depressurized airlock.

[3] In an August 2005 Smithsonian magazine article about the MMU photo, McCandless is quoted as saying that the subject's anonymity is its best feature.

"[18] On September 30, 2010, McCandless launched a lawsuit against British singer Dido for unauthorized use of a photo of his 1984 space flight for the album art of her 2008 album Safe Trip Home, which showed McCandless "free flying" about 320 feet away from the Space Shuttle Challenger.

This honored him as an esteemed employee of the company, and also the fact that the MMU spacewalk was facilitated by the jetpack developed by Lockheed Martin.