Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov is a former Soviet cosmonaut who is also an accomplished artist. In 1965, he became the first man who step out of the spacecraft and hovered in space within 12 minutes.
Leonov was born in Altai region of Siberia on 30th May 1934. He graduated from the Soviet Air Force Academy of Arts in Riga, then attended Pilot prep school in Kremenchug. In 1957, he graduated with honors from the Chuguyev Higher Air Force School, and in 1968 from the Zhukovskiy Air Force Engineering Academy. In 1981 he earned a Candidate of Technical Sciences.
In 1960, Alexei Leonov became one of the original twenty cosmonauts selected by the Russian space program.
His first spaceflight was the Voskhod 2 mission on March 18, 1965. Pavel Belyayey commanded the 26-hour flight and Leonov was the Pilot. Ninety minutes after the launch, Leonov became the first person to walk in space, floating freely outside the Voskhod capsule for more than ten minutes high above the Earth.
When Leonov attempted to return to the capsule he could not because the pressure difference between the air in his space suit and the vacuum of space, expanded the suit, making it so rigid he could not work his fingers. Eventually he bled some of the air out of the suit and was able to close the lock’s outer hatch. By the time Leonov enden his spacewalk it had lasted over twenty minutes.
During re-entry the onboard computer for the Voskhod malfunctioned and the capsule landed over 600 miles off course in a remote section of the Ural Mountains. After two days and a cold night in the wilderness the cosmonauts were finally rescued.
In 1975, he was driving Soviet spacecraft, which was part of the first joint Russian-American mission in space. For his exploits, Leonov received the award Hero of the Soviet Union and became deputy commander of the space team, and from 1976 to 1982 and commander of cosmonaut team and deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Leonov retired in 1991 with the title of Major General of Soviet aviation.
Leonov crater on the moon is named after him.
Sources:
http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=17
http://www.astronautcentral.com/LEONOV/AlexeiLeonov.html
http://time.com/3745861/leonov-spacewalk-50th-anniversary/
http://www.strela-watch.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/leonovevaquad.jpg
http://davidseaver.com/blogspot/yaroslavl_19.jpg
Author:
MSc Marina Stojmirova
