Selected in 1966 for a potential Apollo mission, McCandless did not travel to space until February 1984 as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Challenger. He helped develop the manned manoeuvring unit, which he used to become the first person to fly as an independent satellite during a space walk on the mission; he also ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been.
His other space shuttle flight was in Discovery, launched in April 1990 to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.