beamjockey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beamjockey) wrote2015-03-18 03:06 pm
beamjockey) wrote2015-03-18 03:06 pm
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Steppin' Out with Alexei Leonov
In an ongoing parade of fiftieth anniversaries of events that deeply impressed me as a youth, let's congratulate Alexei Leonov, Russian painter, retired general, and legendary cosmonaut.
On 18 March 1965, Leonov exited the Voshkod 2 capsule through an inflated airlock, floating in space for 12 minutes.
Painting by General Alexei Leonov of the Voshkod 2 spacewalk.
Here are the first-person accounts of Pavel Belayev and Alexei Leonov as published in Life's 14 May 1965 issue-- sanitized to downplay the worrisome difficulty of returning to the Vostok capsule. Leonov's suit wouldn't fit in the airlock; he reduced the suit's pressure to a hazardous level, risking an attack of "the bends," in order to get it flexible enough to squeeze in.
Working outside a spacecraft, in a suit, had often been portrayed in books and films. I was thrilled to know that it was happening in reality. Truly, we were living in the Space Age. And spacewalks have continued since that day. Спасибо, General Leonov!
On 18 March 1965, Leonov exited the Voshkod 2 capsule through an inflated airlock, floating in space for 12 minutes.
Painting by General Alexei Leonov of the Voshkod 2 spacewalk.
Here are the first-person accounts of Pavel Belayev and Alexei Leonov as published in Life's 14 May 1965 issue-- sanitized to downplay the worrisome difficulty of returning to the Vostok capsule. Leonov's suit wouldn't fit in the airlock; he reduced the suit's pressure to a hazardous level, risking an attack of "the bends," in order to get it flexible enough to squeeze in.
Working outside a spacecraft, in a suit, had often been portrayed in books and films. I was thrilled to know that it was happening in reality. Truly, we were living in the Space Age. And spacewalks have continued since that day. Спасибо, General Leonov!
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