As Neil backed out of the hatch, it was not that easy -- with the backpack on -- to clear the opening. So I had to guide him down: left, right and so on. Once he got on the "porch," as we called it, he pulled a lever, which brought the live television camera into view. But the image was upside down; Houston had to send the computer a signal to put it right-side up again.

As I came down the ladder, it seemed a lot easier. There wasn't a sense of high altitude, or of balancing -- but this wasn't zero-gravity, either. There certainly was a height sense. You didn't want to lean over and fall off; that would have been a little embarrassing, with Neil taking pictures.