Alexei Leonov, the First Man to Walk In Space, Has Died
The first man to conduct a space walk, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, has died at 85 years old.
Leonov took his famed walk through space on March 18, 1965, paving the way for decades of exploration to follow.
On Friday, Roscosmos tweeted a tribute to the fallen cosmonaut, touting his many achievements.
The first person to walk in space, Soviet-era cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, has died after battling a long illness, according to a statement from Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. He was 85.
Dubbed cosmonaut No. 11, Leonov conducted the first spacewalk on March 18, 1965, during the Voskhod 2 mission. He left the safety and confines of his spacecraft to float in space for 12 minutes and nine seconds, as his copilot, commander Pavel Belyayev, looked on.
"What remain etched in my memory was the extraordinary silence, my heart beating, and difficulty I had breathing," Leonov recalled 50 years later in an interview with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Leonov demonstrated that humans could indeed walk in space, but his walk wasn't without challenges. His space suit began to eight minutes into his walk, and he ultimately had to drop the pressure in his suit in order to safely make his way back to the spacecraft.
Leonov was born in a small Siberian village in 1934, and was later selected to become part of an elite cadre of trailblazers—the first class of 20 cosmonauts—along with Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly to outer space. Leonov later headed up Russia’s division of the Soyuz-Apollo Test Project, which, in 1975, became the first joint space program between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Leonov was a decorated cosmonaut, and was twice awarded Russia’s highest honor, the Hero of the Soviet Union. After he retired from the space program, he went on to work in the private sector, penned awarding winning books, and became an accomplished painter. Several of his works were featured on Russian stamps.
Roscosmos announced the passing of his death in a tweet on Friday morning.
Roscosmos State Corporation is sad to announce the passing away of Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov — https://t.co/7hTW6BTWUd
The legendary Soviet cosmonaut No. 11 was the first human in the world to perform a spacewalk, was twice awarded with Hero of the Soviet Union title. pic.twitter.com/jwusuQCTEb— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) October 11, 2019
NASA also paid tribute to the cosmonaut on Twitter.
We’re saddened by the loss of legendary @roscosmos cosmonaut Alexei Leonov who became the first human to walk in space on March 18, 1965. His venture into the vacuum of space began the history of extravehicular activity that makes today’s @Space_Station maintenance possible. pic.twitter.com/8EavxJd5R1
— NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2019
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