McCandless (Bruce) is born in Boston.

A member of a family of high-ranking naval officers, Bruce McCandless graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy, becomes a captain in the U.S. Navy, and is one of the 19 people selected by NASA to become astronauts in 1966. He makes an unprecedent untethered flight outside space shuttle Challenger in 1984. McCandless dies in December 2017.