Alexei Leonov, first human to walk in space, dies at 85

[rooster59]

Alexei Leonov, first human to walk in space, dies at 85

 

FILE PHOTO: Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (L), the first human to conduct a space walk, and his compatriot Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman cosmonaut, attend a ceremony in Star City outside Moscow, Russia, June 7, 2013. REUTERS/Sergei Remezov

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Alexei Leonov, who became the first human to walk in space in 1965, died on Friday at the age of 85 after a long illness, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

 

Though less well known internationally than Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, Leonov was a household name in his native Russia and will be remembered in particular for his role in the 1965 Voskhod-2 mission.

 

During that flight, one of two he made into space in his career, Leonov became the first human to conduct a space walk, an episode that lasted 12 minutes and 9 seconds.

 

The outing was stressful for Leonov whose space suit filled with air to the point where he struggled to get back into his spacecraft.

 

Leonov flew into space again in 1975, commanding the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the first U.S.–Soviet space flight. It occurred at a time when Russia and the United States, which spent part of the Cold War locked in a space race, were pursuing a policy of detente.

 

Leonov trained as a military pilot before becoming a cosmonaut. He received a 'Hero of the Soviet Union' medal - one of the Russian state's most prestigious awards - twice and has a small crater on the Moon named after him.

 

Leonov helped train other cosmonauts before retiring in 1992, a year after the Soviet Union collapsed. He devoted himself to private business and his twin passions of art and writing in later life.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin knew Leonov well and had great respect for his courage, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, TASS reported.

 

NASA said in a statement on Twitter it was saddened by Leonov's death.

 

"His venture into the vacuum of space began the history of extravehicular activity that makes today’s Space Station maintenance possible," it said.

 

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Susan Fenton)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-12

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[Tug]

Farewell brave soul I salute you 

[rabas]

Hooray to the early great space pioneers, going bravely into the unknown fraught with danger. His airlock was a tiny affair and they had not considered that his suit would expand from pressure. When it did, he calmly faced a life and death decision to get back in.

 

After several minutes outside, his spacesuit ballooned, making it very difficult for him to maneuver. His crewmate, Pavel Belayev, unable to do anything to assist, Leonov made the decision to release air from his suit in order to be able to re-enter his capsule.

"I decided to drop the pressure inside the suit ... knowing all the while that I would reach the threshold of nitrogen boiling in my blood, but I had no choice,"

 

https://www.space.com/cosmonaut-alexei-leonov-first-spacewalker-dies-at-85.html

[Pedrogaz]

Ahhh but is it really walking when you are just floating around with no gravity. Now moon walking...that's real walking.