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Ed White was the first American to walk in space, or EVA.  It happened over the United State on
June 3rd.  He was teethered to the spacecraft and moved around with the little HHMU thruster pack
seen in his hand.  James McDivitt said he could feel the teether pulling and yanking the ship.  The excursion
only lasted a few minutes, but proved that it could be done and the spacesuit worked.
During the space walk, he said

The trouble was, White had a heck of a time getting back through the hatchway into the craft.  And, the
next few astronauts to try EVAs didn't have much luck.  These was the first tries on the learning curve.
Buzz Aldrin "invented" the techniques of successful space walking and proved their worth on the last
Gemini mission (XII).  He did three EVAs that totaled five hours.  Live and Learn.  The Gemini astronauts
were the ones to attempt all the basics of spaceflight and to see if they could even be done at all.
The astronauts who work so deftly today outside with the Hubble Space Telescope
and the International Space Station owe their thanks to Ed White and Buzz Aldrin.

Read the many fine books written by astronauts.  One is Deke! U.S. Manned Space:  From Mercury to
the Shuttle by Donald K. "Deke" Slayton with Michael Cassutt (NY: A Forge Book pub. by
Tom Doherty Assoc., 1994).

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Space walk photo is in public domain. It's a government photo.   I think I got this at //spaceflight.nasa.gov