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| Drawing inspired by Alexey's Leonov spacewalk |
On the
morning of 18 March 1965, the cosmonauts were woken up for their flight. They
were given a medical and then observed several traditions that had developed in
the years since Gagarin’s launch. Yuri opened a bottle of champagne and poured
it into glasses for the cosmonauts to sip. Then they signed the bottle, making
a pledge to drink the rest on their return from space. Afterwards, they
urinated on one of the wheels of the bus used to transport them to the launch
pad at Baikonur. At 07.00 GMT, the R-7 rocket’s engines ignited and propelled
the two cosmonauts into the sky.
Upon reaching orbit, Belyayev deployed the
airlock while Leonov strapped on his life support system. Then, with a slap on
the back from Belyayev to see him off, Leonov crawled into the airlock and
closed the hatch behind him. Leonov waited patiently while Belyayev equalized
the pressure in the airlock with the zero pressure in space. This would help
purge nitrogen gas from Leonov’s body, protecting him against decompression
sickness, also known as “the bends”. Eventually, the all-clear was given to
open the external hatch. As Leonov looked out at the Earth, night was turning
to day, and Africa filled his field of view...
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| We
established contact over the Black Sea. Yuri Gagarin was on the other end.
"Almaz, you can step out, we see you well". And i jumped. Alexey Leonov's walk lasted for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. |
“As soon as
we were in orbit the command was given to open the airlock. I went out the
airlock and the hatch was closed behind me. It's hard to imagine what it is
like. My feeling was that i was a grain of sand. Only out there can you feel
the greatness and enormity of all that's around us. On Earth you just don't get
a sense of it... The silence struck me. I could hear my heart beating so clearly..."
...It was then
that things began to go wrong. I felt my spacesuit losing it's shape. My
fingers had slipped out of the gloves and my feet from the boots. The suit felt
loose around my body. So i had to do something. I couldn't reel myself in on the
cord. It was impossible in these gloves. And if i stayed like this i just
wouldn't fit back through the airlock. But worst of all, five minutes more and
i would be in the Earth's shadow and i wouldn't be able to see anything at all.
Silently, without reporting to ground control i decided to halve the pressure
in my suit..."
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Pavel
Belyayev and Alexey Leonov during the Voskhod 2 mission.
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Pavel
Belyayev and Alexey Leonov back on Earth
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Yesterday
(18.3.2015) marks exactly half a century since mankind took a daredevil leap
into open space... The Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov performed the first
extravehicular activity in human history, as a part of the Voskhod 2 Soviet
manned space mission, adding another milestone in the exploration of space! The two cosmonauts returned safe to earth the other day, March 19,
1965, 09:02:17 UTC.
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Alexey
Leonov on 1965 USSR 10 kopek stamp.
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