11 2019 October, the
Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space, has passed away.
When I stepped with difficulty into this abyss... the stars were to the left and to the right, above and below. And I was among the stars. And I realized that I myself was a part of this gigantic world.
Born in 1934 in the village of Listvyanka in the Kemerovo region. After the war, he lived in Kaliningrad. Having a talent for drawing, he wanted to enroll in the Riga Academy of Arts. But he couldn't afford to live in Riga.
You should always hope for the best. No faith? Invent it. No heroes? Create them.
He graduated from a military aviation school. In 1960, he joined the first Soviet cosmonaut corps. In 1965, during a flight on the Voskhod 2 spacecraft, he performed the first spacewalk in history. When the vacuum of his spacesuit inflated like a balloon, he depressurized it to an emergency level to reduce its volume. The maneuver threatened to cause his blood to boil.
At the 8-minute mark, I felt my fingers come out of my gloves. And my feet came out of my boots. I thought, how am I going to assemble a 5,5-meter safety rope? I realized it wasn't feasible... And open communication. I imagined saying, "I'm in trouble." It would have been a nightmare on Earth. So I made the decision myself.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1969, he was riding in a car that was fired upon by officer Ilyin, who attempted to assassinate Brezhnev. He was unharmed. In 1971, he was commander of the prime crew of Soyuz 11, which was rejected before launch. The backup crew died on landing. In 1975, as commander of Soyuz 19, he participated in the Soyuz-Apollo program, known as the "handshake in space." It was the first time that spacecraft from the USSR and the USA docked.
The space race is the greatest competition the world has ever seen. When nations compete to build the best peaceful spacecraft, such a competition can only be welcomed.
He retired in 1991. He remained friends with Apollo commander Thomas Stafford for the rest of his life. He gained recognition as an artist. Together with Andrei Sokolov, he created a series of space-themed postage stamps.
