RADM Bruce McCandless, USN (Ret) was a career U.S. Navy officer and Medal of Honor recipient. Commissioned in 1932, he served aboard two cruisers and destroyers before assignment to USS San Francisco in 1939. He later commanded USS Gregory. He retired in 1952 and is buried at the Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, MD.

Bruce McCandless III graduated from the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. He went on to earn an M.A. from Reading University in England and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. He is the author of the memoir Wonders All Around and-with space journalist Emily Carney-Star Bound: A Beginner's Guide to the American Space Program, From Goddard's Rockets to Goldilocks Planets and Everything in Between.