First Man to Walk in Space: Alexei Leonov March 18, 1965

Alexei Leonov, was the first man to "walk" in space on March 18, 1965. Though he was expected to become a professional artist, aviation beckoned and Leonov was soon flying jets and studying engineering. When the call came for Cosmonaut candidates in 1959, 25 year old Leonov was picked as one of the first 20 Cosmonauts.

Leonov's space walk beat Astronaut Ed White's by three months. Leonov's Voskhod capsule carried two men, like Gemini, but the Soviets constructed an inflatable airlock for Leonov's spacewalk. There were tense moments when Leonov found his spacesuit too rigid to reenter the airlock. Leonov bled air out of his suit, but was barely able to return. Later, a rocket malfunction forced Leonov and his crewmate to land in mountains and deep snow, with wolves growling and scratching at Voskhod's partly open hatch.

Leonov was to be the Commander of the first Soviet Moon mission, cancelled when Apollo 11 took the prize in 1969. Leonov and lunar co-pilot Valery Kubasov were then assigned to Salyut 1, the first Soviet space station. But Kubasov fell ill, and the backup crew sent to Salyut died when an air valve failed in their spacecraft as they were returning to Earth.

Leonov and Kubasov were re-assigned to the Apollo-Soyuz project, the first linking of Soviet and American spacecraft in 1975. Leonov trained in Houston, learning English and impressing everyone with his quick wit, humor, and charm.

General Leonov is a Renaissance man; a gifted athlete, pilot and self-taught artist. He is a highly decorated survivor of the harrowing days of the U.S.-Soviet Space Race. He has cheated death several times, in an early parachute accident, then twice aboard his Voskhod 2 spacewalk mission. Leonov would have died in place of his backup crew had not Valery Kubasov fallen ill before their Salyut-1 flight. Leonov also survived when his car skidded and plunged into a deep ice-covered lake. Leonov heroically pulled his wife and driver to safety. He survived an assasination attempt on Premier Brezhnev when their car was showered in with bullets. The driver was killed, but Leonov managed to crouch behind the seat.

Leonov has always indulged in his love of art, painting everything from stoic Russian churches, Siberian snow scenes and of course, space art. As the first artist in space, Leonov often paints from actual color sketches done in space aboard his two flights. Although self-taught, his works show a polish and realism typical of a trained professional. After a joint exhibition with American space artists in Moscow, he led the Soviet space artists to the International Space Art Workshop held in Iceland the following year. Leonov's works have been displayed all over the former Soviet Union, and at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC. He has been published in several books (in Russian) and in "In The Stream of Stars: The Soviet-American Space Art Book" by Dr. William K. Hartmann.

General Leonov is deputy director of Gagarin Cosmonaut Center, in charge of international and guest cosmonauts. He is also editor, designer, and cartoonist for APOGEE, the formerly supersecret cosmonaut newsletter. His wife Svetlana is a teacher, and they have two daughters, Viktoria and Oksana.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Alexei
• Leonov
• walk
• space
• moon
• 1975
• USA
• Kubasov
• Apollo-Soyuz
• Huston
• voskhod 2
• salyut1

[roflcoppterlol]

Think of space like a house that mankind could never get into, generations of ancestors had peeked threw the windows to get a small glimpse inside. The great Soviet Union where the first to unlock the door and walk inside, all America did was follow it in and start touching all the stuff.

[DeadMemories03]

What is with all the America vs Russia comments, Both countries leaders delayed humanity reaching space after world war 2 instead building ICBM's to threaten each other. Russia got man into space, America got man to the moon, Apollo 11 left one of Yuri Gagarin's medals on the moon as a mark of respect on their part, right now Russians and Americans are in the ISS working together. If we could get over the politics and work together we could do so much more than sit here insulting each other.

[BenjaminArshadTV]

I just don't understand why it has to be so f***ing expensive to go to space, as an ordinary citizen, this is something everyone should get to experiense once in their life, of course fuel and all that other bullshit is expansive, but still man come on! :P

[aczjbr]

@DeadMemories03 I found the speech in another site the entire speech

w w w . myspace . com/yurisnightaustin/blog/2402­92881

[DeadMemories03]

@aczjbr Glad I could help, if you type in Yuri Gagarin on youtube the second video down by RussiaToday does mention it towards the end and I seem to remember it being mentioned on the BBC's stargazing live in the UK but I do agree it should not be forgotten.

[aczjbr]

@DeadMemories03 Alright! This is irrelevant. Never my teachers told me that. Neither astronomers of my country. This has never read or seen in any media or outside of here. This is an act of honor and humanity. Have defended the way the moon against the Illuminati and the fools in science. Now it will be by an act of honor and honorable men. I'll spread the news in English, Portuguese, Spanish and French. This can not be forgotten. Thanks for giving me hope. until tomorrow!

[DeadMemories03]

@aczjbr Sorry ran out of characters. That's an extract from the speech made by Astronaut John W. Young in 1971 at the tribute to Yuri Gagarin. Hope that helped, if you have any more questions please feel free to ask me. Regards Aaron.

[DeadMemories03]

@aczjbr Hi! "When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon, they honored Yuri Gagarin by leaving behind one of his medals. There on the Mare Tranquilitus it remains with a medal that belonged to Comsonaut Vladimir Komorov and an Apollo shoulder patch commemorating the American astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. These tokens lie near a plaque which reads: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

[aczjbr]

@DeadMemories03 Hello! His engineer in Brazil and fan of space exploration. I never knew that Apollo11 left a medal of great Yuri Gagarin on the moon. Can you indicate where you read it? If you remember? I wish it happened. It would be an act of honor and respect not only to Yuri, but to all who died in the journey to space. Greetings from Rio de Janeiro.

[notessimodude]

@roflcoppterlol That analogy is terrible. Why don't you look at Humanity as a collective of genius and trial & error rather than choosing one nation over another? A bit tribal, maybe? A better analogy would be this: Space is like an ocean around an island. Russians were the first to sail its waters, Americans were the first to reach the new world. But enough of 'who was first'. This tribal patriotism bullshit pisses me off.