On 18th March 1965, Russian cosmonaut Alexei LEONOV (RUS) stepped out of the spacecraft Voskhod-2 to become the first person to walk in space. He spent a total of 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside of the vehicle attached by a tether, thereby gaining an FAI World Record for extravehicular (EV) duration in space.
Pilot Pavel BELYAYEV (RUS) and co-pilot Leonov launched at 07:00 GMT on 18th March 1965 from Baikonur cosmodrome in the former USSR. At 08:28:13 GMT Alexei Leonov initiated his spacewalk by decompressing the spacecraft airlock; at 08:34:51 he stepped out of the vehicle, returning at 08:47:00. Telemetering data shows that his heart rate rose to 143 beats/min and breathing rate to 31 breaths/min as he first left the inside of the spacecraft.
During the EV activity, Leonov was attached to the spacecraft by a tether measuring 5.35m in length. Cinematographic evidence was used in the post-flight analysis to show that, at times, the tether was taught, thereby recording the maximum distance the cosmonaut floated from the vehicle.
The flight lasted for 26 hours and two minutes, covering some 717,262km and reaching an altitude of 497.7km. The spacecraft returned safely to Earth, landing near Perm at 09:02 GMT on 19th March. In a post flight report, Leonov stated "Leaving the spacecraft in outer space is quite possible and is no longer mysterious to man".
moorouge Member
Posts: 2457 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
posted 03-18-2010 11:50 AM
The crew's adventures didn't end with the completion of the first EVA. The automatic controls had Voskhod 2 incorrectly aligned at the end of the 16th orbit forcing it to make one more.
At the end of this, Belyaev manually fired the retro-rockets and controlled re-entry. This resulted in a 1440 km. overshoot with the spacecraft landing in deep snow.
Some matches, smuggled aboard by Leonov, enabled the crew to light a fire whilst waiting the two and a half hours for a rescue helicopter. However, it wasn't until the next day that they were taken to Perm.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-19-2012 08:21 AM
Always think this is an amazing story.
1965: Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev land Voskhod 2 in a forest surrounded by wolves, delaying their recovery.
music_space Member
Posts: 1179 From: Canada Registered: Jul 2001
posted 03-21-2012 09:00 AM
... and while they were 'landing long', to say the least, Belayev and Leonov probably glanced anxiously to this instrument in fear that they would land outside of the USSR...
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-22-2012 02:45 AM
Would it really have been as bad though if they did?
Lasv3 Member
Posts: 422 From: Bratislava, Slovakia Registered: Apr 2009
posted 03-22-2012 12:13 PM
Alexei Leonov in "Two Sides of the Moon" says their (Voskhod 2 crew) only worries were not to land somewhere in a densely populated area or in China due to poor relationship with that country.
However, the relationship between the USSR and China back in 1965 was not that bad compared to what came after the Ussuri river military conflict four years later.
My personal opinion is China would maybe hold the spaceship for a while — to produce their own afterwards — as the worst case scenario, but they would have never dared to hold the crew. They would show them in their TV demonstrating the goodwill and help provided to the neighbour country cosmonauts and that would be it.
levasseurj Member
Posts: 27 From: Washington, D.C. Registered: Jan 2010
posted 07-11-2014 08:47 AM
For the 50th anniversary of the first EVAs, I'm curating an exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum. We'd like to feature a large-scale print of Leonov during his spacewalk, but believe it was only recorded via a television camera. Can somebody verify that?
Does anyone know of a print that could be scanned and reproduced - large enough to be featured like artwork in an exhibit? Many thanks!
Captain Apollo Member
Posts: 260 From: UK Registered: Jun 2004
posted 08-20-2014 04:51 PM
You've seen this colour film of Leonov's spacewalk?
David C Member
Posts: 1035 From: Lausanne Registered: Apr 2012
posted 08-20-2014 05:53 PM
Looks to me like Leonov had a dark visor inside his face plate. Can anyone confirm this?
jasonelam Member
Posts: 691 From: Monticello, KY USA Registered: Mar 2007
posted 08-20-2014 07:04 PM
Yes, several of the preflight films I've seen show them lowering an internal visor over their eyes with a lever on the side of their helmets.
Lou Chinal Member
Posts: 1330 From: Staten Island, NY Registered: Jun 2007
posted 09-08-2014 04:21 PM
Did Leonov wear a watch on his EVA?
DG27 Member
Posts: 178 From: USA Registered: Nov 2010
posted 09-16-2014 03:02 AM
Based on the images in the video, it does not appear that he was wearing a watch. The dual straps on the wrist are the restraint straps with pull tabs for the Berkut glove. Pressure gauge is on the right arm. Perhaps he was wearing one under the suit.
That is a great video. Thanks for sharing it. Anyone know where to get a copy of the video?
kyra Member
Posts: 583 From: Louisville CO US Registered: Aug 2003
posted 09-16-2014 10:15 PM
I believe all the photography of this spacewalk comes from stills made from the movie camera mounted on the airlock. In short, there are no high resolution of this spacewalk that look good beyond about half page size. There was a b/w closed circuit camera in a slightly different perspective and those were relayed to the ground and are more grainy. RIA Novosti and Science Direct seem to own the rights to most of these images.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43473 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-13-2014 09:26 AM
The BBC has published a multimedia feature about The First Spacewalk:
Alexei Leonov did not feel as if he was in motion as he clambered on to the outside of the spacecraft, 500km above the Earth. But in reality, he was hurtling around our planet at speeds that are many times faster than a jet aircraft.
The vast, vivid geography of our planet stretched out before him - a giant canvas of contrasting colours and textures. He was the first of his species to see our planet in such glorious aspect. The Russian was quickly overwhelmed:
"You just can't comprehend it. Only out there can you feel the greatness - the huge size of all that surrounds us."
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43473 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
It lasted just 12 minutes, but history's first-ever spacewalk – 50 years ago today – took the first steps towards shaping the future of space exploration.
On March 18, 1965 at 4:35 a.m. EDT (0835 GMT), Soviet-era cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to leave the confines of his spacecraft while in orbit and float in the vacuum of space. Leonov, who with Pavel Belyayev was flying onboard the former-Soviet Union's Voskhod 2, accomplished the first extra-vehicular activity – EVA, or spacewalk – on what was only the 14th piloted spaceflight in history.
"What remain etched in my memory was the extraordinary silence, my heart beating, and difficulty I had breathing," Leonov recalled five decades later in an interview with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). The FAI was then, and remains today, the governing body that certifies world aviation and space records.
KSCartist Member
Posts: 2911 From: Titusville, FL USA Registered: Feb 2005
posted 03-18-2015 05:49 AM
Jorge ("KAPTEC") and I were honored to create this official tribute honoring Alexei Leonov for the Association of Space Explorers. Today the ASE is gathering in Moscow to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first spacewalk. I hope Alexei likes it as much as we did creating it.
Lasv3 Member
Posts: 422 From: Bratislava, Slovakia Registered: Apr 2009
posted 03-18-2015 07:40 AM
Nice painting! I like the Voskhod 2 reflection in Leonov's faceplate.
Unfortunately no EVA photos of the Voskhod 2 exist as Alexei Leonov was not able to activate his chest camera due to the spacesuit ballooning problems.
MarylandSpace Member
Posts: 1352 From: Registered: Aug 2002
posted 03-18-2015 09:04 AM
There is a nice interview of Leonov on the NASA channel which reflects on his spacewalk.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43473 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-18-2015 12:09 PM
Andrew Chaikin processed some of the stills from Leonov's walk to produce anaglyphic or 3D images of the EVA. From Universe Today:
Author and space historian Andrew Chaikin created some unique 3-D views of Leonov's spacewalk, made from individual frames from the movie of the walk. If you don't have your 3-D glasses available, don't worry: Chaikin has also created stereo pair 3-D images, which you can view by crossing your eyes.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43473 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-18-2015 02:47 PM
quote:Originally posted by MarylandSpace: There is a nice interview of Leonov on the NASA channel which reflects on his spacewalk.
NASA has now posted the interview online:
Former Russian cosmonaut Alexey Leonov relived the highlights of the spacewalk he conducted 50 years ago — the first spacewalk in history — during an interview with NASA Public Affairs Officer Rob Navias in Moscow in May 2014.
lucspace Member
Posts: 407 From: Hilversum, The Netherlands Registered: Oct 2003
posted 03-18-2015 04:16 PM
Had never seen the FAI page of photos before. What are we looking at in the very first image?
SkyMan1958 Member
Posts: 879 From: CA. Registered: Jan 2011
posted 03-18-2015 05:35 PM
There's a fairly extensive RT article with assorted video links.
At the bottom of the article in the last paragraph it mentions ways that you can send questions to Leonov, and that Leonov will answer some of the questions during a live feed that looks like it will start at 7 a.m. on the East Coast tomorrow, March 19, 2015. The last paragraph in the article also includes a link to the live feed.
music_space Member
Posts: 1179 From: Canada Registered: Jul 2001
posted 03-19-2015 02:29 PM
After his historic spacewalk, Alexei Leonov rejoined Pavel Belyayev inside the Voskhod spacecraft, and the crew prepared for reentry. As the automatic systems failed, no doubt they checked anxiously their IMP-3 "Globus" instrument to know how far from the intended point they were going to land.
Their Globus was identical to this one, which is part of my private collection: this one was possibly used in training or on ground facilities... For the picture, I had it point to Montreal, Canada, my home town.
Details on Wikipedia here. Discussion on the collection's Globus here.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43473 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-26-2020 09:06 PM
Newly released documents cast a different light on Alexei Leonov's spacewalk, reports Anatoly Zak for Air & Space Magazine.
Contemporary documents and video footage have become available over the past year that tell a different story. In his own words — written immediately after the Voskhod-2 mission but made public only this month — Leonov said he had planned to drop the suit pressure all along: "(My) first attempt to (re)enter (the airlock) did not succeed..." he wrote. "Back on Earth, I thought up what to do if the first entry would not work. I was planning back on Earth to switch the pressure to 0.27 atmospheres (from nominal 0.4 atmospheres). My estimates were confirmed, that is exactly how it happened..."
In the same report, Leonov confirmed that he had been tired at the end of his spacewalk, but hardly exhausted, and only in comparison to his 25-second training sessions during parabolic flights on a weightlessness-simulating aircraft. Leonov describes a rather minor struggle to re-enter the airlock, but makes it clear he entered legs-first. He never mentions a desperate head-first dive...
The recently released footage [start watching at about the 1:00:30 mark of the Russian-language video below] unequivocally proves that Leonov re-entered the airlock feet-first, holding the camera exactly as described in his post-flight report. Which means, of course, that there was no harrowing flip inside the airlock.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 4486 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-26-2020 10:11 PM
Absolutely fascinating video from multiple facets. Most detailed technical footage of Voskhod design and assembly as well as airlock I have seen. Hopefully more to come in the future.
Lasv3 Member
Posts: 422 From: Bratislava, Slovakia Registered: Apr 2009
posted 03-27-2020 06:16 AM
These last year new informations are very interesting and raising especially one question: Why this sudden change of the mission facts description?
Alexei Leonov visited Bratislava in 2016 and he described his Voschod 2 mission in great detail. He repeated the known story of his struggle to get back into the airlock, how he had to go back in head first, to make a difficult flip inside the tight airlock to enter the crew module legs first and about his exhaustion when he had the spacesuit full of liquid from sweating. He also said he did not inform the ground controll on his decision to decrease the spacesuit internal pressure as there was no time and he had to act quickly.
The attached movie from 1965 is excellent, it is interesting that the narrator mentioned already then that for the future work in the open space it would be necessary to fix the spacewalkers´ bodies to allow to work.
posted 03-18-2010 02:10 AM
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