On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to walk in outer space. This happened four years after the flight of Gagarin, who became the first man in space, but did not leave the confines of his ship. Ten years later, at the height of the Cold War, he had another historic mission: he shook hands with American astronaut Thomas Stafford during the first space meeting between two nations.
Sometimes an astronaut's life literally hangs on a string. Well, or on the cable that belayed Alexei Leonov during his first spacewalk. On March 18, 1965, for the first time in human history, he soared 500 kilometers above the Earth, alone against the backdrop of the yawning abyss of outer space. In those 12 long minutes, the Soviet hero had to go against the rules to save his life.
“I had no fear. Just curiosity. I think the first thing I said was: “The Earth really is round,” says this 80-year-old man, who resembles a retired general. It's pouring rain in Star City right now. Alexey Leonov meets us at the cosmonaut training center. It was there that the adventure of a young and brave pilot began, who was selected for the first group of cosmonauts in 1960. And the space missions ended 30 years later, when he had to step down as deputy director.
“I saw the Black Sea, a little further Romania, Italy... The earth was a huge ball, the continents and rivers were perfectly visible...” Alexei Leonov’s gaze clears up with these memories. When it emerged from the Voskhod 2 spacecraft, it began to rotate and then flew away from it. He was able to admire the lights of Rio de Janeiro and the sparkling network of roads around the cities. But it was not only the Earth that attracted the eye: the sky was filled with stars. “Space was very quiet. I heard my heart beating, breathing heavily...” This labored breathing (Stanley Kubrick used it in his “2001: A Space Odyssey”) was associated with the design of the spacesuit, which provided the astronaut with only 60 liters of oxygen (today the norm is 300 liters ). However, another unpleasant surprise awaited the first space pedestrian, which almost cost him his life.
“Unexpected pressure problems arose: the overalls began to deform and swell. My hands flew out of my gloves and my feet out of my boots, as if I myself had become smaller. Back then there were no mechanisms to adjust the suit like there are now.” So, what to do? Act and act quickly. There were still five minutes left before falling into the shadows, an impenetrable night with a temperature of −140 degrees. I needed my fingers to get back to the ship. I only saw one solution." He did not contact management, contrary to all protocols, and decided to reduce the pressure in the suit by half, which was a very risky step. The first serious violation. When the overalls shrunk again, he was able to move again. When returning to the ship, he no longer had the strength to do it feet first, as required by the rules. He entered the capsule head first, which was the second violation.
Upon returning to Earth after eulogies and parades in his honor, he was demanded to explain. Alexey Leonov seems to be reliving that scene: “I told them: “Imagine that I would report everything to you. You would convene a commission to discuss. It would take five minutes. Then you would need to choose the chairman of the commission. Two more minutes. Then you would start a discussion and take a vote. And ultimately they would advise me to reduce the pressure in the spacesuit... But then I would no longer be able to do this.” His boss smiled broadly: “But Alexey is right!” The astronaut was not only forgiven, but also earned respect.
In 1973, he was assigned another historic mission: to conduct the first space meeting of Soviet and American spacecraft, the Soyuz-Apollo program. This project, which was supposed to serve to defuse international relations at the height of the Cold War, seemed crazy. “The four people who initiated this meeting were, it seems to me, citizens of the universe: President Richard Nixon, Minister Alexei Kosygin, NASA Director James Fletcher and our space center physicist Mstislav Keldysh. They wanted to show the whole world that besides the disgusting relations between our countries, there can be something different, something higher. They sought to delay the threat of World War III. And we, the cosmonauts, had to serve together and show that peaceful cooperation is possible.”
The launch was scheduled for July 15, 1975. According to the scenario, a historic handshake between Alexei Leonov and the commander of the American crew, Tom Stafford, was supposed to take place in the sky high above Moscow. However, space changed the situation. “At some point there must have been a desynchronization. I still haven't figured out how. But we ended up shaking hands a little earlier than expected, right above the Elbe where Soviet and American troops met in 1945. Also symbolic. It wasn’t intended to be this way, but in the end everything turned out more beautiful and smarter than in the script.”
However, another plan worked perfectly: Alexei Leonov drew fake vodka labels and stuck them on tubes of borscht to celebrate the scientific collaboration. The Americans appreciated the joke. Drawing has always been another passion of Leonov. He was enrolled in an art school, but shortly before the start of classes, he nevertheless exchanged it for a career as a pilot. Nevertheless, he did not lose his love for the brush and drew inspiration from flights, recreating the colors of space so different from the earthly ones. These cosmic colors captured his imagination. He even created special tools to study them and did this in his free time. “I made two observations. When you move from light to shadow, the picture begins to resemble Rockwell Kent, the cold and pure colors of Alaska. When you emerge from the night into the sun, you are surrounded by the warm colors of Nicholas Roerich.”
Subsequently, he proposed a design for a globe in its true colors, as seen from space. In addition, he developed his own method of drawing the starry sky. “The star clusters are so amazing that you don’t even need to invent anything here, it’s enough just to depict the landscape of the night sky, the northern lights with their blue-green and red stains...” But then the general comes to replace the artist again. Finally, he talks about preparing for the flight to the moon. The program was stopped, and he never managed to take this legendary step. So he drew a man on the Earth's satellite. For him, this became a continuation of his dream of space.
The man who was the first to go into outer space is 84 years old. He spent 12 minutes 9 seconds outside the spaceship, which went down in history forever and which almost cost him his life. His titles, awards, and merits can be listed endlessly.
Alexey Leonov was born on May 30, 1934 in the village of Listvyanka, Tisulsky district, Kemerovo region. Father - Leonov Arkhip Alekseevich (born 1892), was a peasant, formerly a miner. Mother - Leonova (Sotnikova) Evdokia Minaevna (born 1895), - teacher. Wife - Svetlana Pavlovna Leonova (born 1940). Daughters: Leonova Victoria Alekseevna (born 1962), Leonova Oksana Alekseevna (born 1967).
Alexey Leonov was born in a small village 600 kilometers north of the city of Kemerovo. Alexei's parents came here from Donbass at different times - first his mother, and after the end of the Civil War, his father. Donetsk miner Arkhip Leonov became the chairman of the village council in a Siberian village. In 1936, my father was repressed; in 1939, he was rehabilitated.
Alexey was the ninth child in the family. In 1938, he and his mother moved to Kemerovo. In 1943 I went to primary school. In 1948, the family moved to the city of Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) to follow their father’s place of work. In 1953, Alexey graduated from high school and received a good matriculation certificate, although he considered his main wealth not to be the grades in the certificate, but to the knowledge, extraordinary for a high school graduate, that he had in his cherished business - aviation and art. Using the notes of his brother, a former aviation technician, with enviable tenacity he studied not only aircraft engines and aircraft designs, but also the basics of flight theory. Combined with sporting achievements, this was the key that opened the doors of flight school for the young man.
In the same year, A. Leonov entered the pilot school in the city of Kremenchug, and from 1955 to 1957 he studied at the Higher School of Fighter Pilots in the city of Chuguev in Ukraine. After college, from 1957 to 1959, he flew in combat regiments. In 1960 A.A. Leonov passed the competition and was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps. In 1960-1961, he attended courses at the Cosmonaut Training Center.
After three years of training, on March 18-19, 1965, together with P.I. Belyaev flew on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft as a co-pilot. During the flight, which lasted one day, 2 hours, 2 minutes and 17 seconds, for the first time in the world he entered outer space, moved away from the spacecraft at a distance of up to five meters and spent 12 minutes 9 seconds outside the airlock chamber in outer space. At the state commission after the flight, the shortest report in the history of astronautics was given: “You can live and work in outer space.” Thus began a new direction of human activity in space.
In 1965-1967 A.A. Leonov - senior instructor, cosmonaut, deputy commander of the cosmonaut corps - pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR. From 1967 to 1970 he commanded the lunar group of astronauts. In 1968 he graduated from the Air Force Engineering Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky.
From 1970 to 1972, A. Leonov was the head of the 1st Directorate of the Scientific Research Institute Cosmonaut Training Center, from 1972 to 1991, he was the deputy head of the Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yu.A. Gagarin, commander of the cosmonaut corps.
At the beginning of 1973, the USSR Academy of Sciences and NASA (USA) announced the composition of the main and backup crews of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft, and named the cosmonauts who had to go through a long and difficult path to the joint launch. Each party determined the selection criteria itself. A necessary condition for final training had to be in-depth knowledge of technology, the ability to work with the systems and equipment of both ships, knowledge of the language of the partner country, high professional qualifications, and readiness to conduct a wide program of scientific experiments and observations. The USSR was represented by pilot-cosmonauts A.A. Leonov and V.N. Kubasov. From the US side - astronauts T. Stafford, V. Brand, D. Slayton. In July 1975, a joint flight was carried out. The commander of the Soyuz spacecraft was A.A. Leonov.
All of humanity followed with admiration an outstanding experiment in space - the joint flight of the Soviet Soyuz-19 spacecraft and the American Apollo. For the first time in history, the docking of these spacecraft was carried out, new docking means were tested in order to ensure the safety of human flights in outer space, and astrophysical, medical-biological, technological and geophysical experiments were carried out. The flight lasted more than five days; it opened a new era in space exploration.
From 1977 to 1979 A.A. Leonov is an adjunct at the Zhukovsky Academy.
Over the years of scientific and practical work and during space flights, A. A. Leonov carried out a number of studies and experiments. Among them: a study of the light and color characteristics of vision after a flight into space (1967), the influence of space flight factors on the visual acuity of the pilot of the Buran complex (1980), the development of a hydro laboratory (the use of the hydrosphere as an analogue of weightlessness, 1966), the creation of a spacesuit for working in hydrosphere. He repeatedly took part in scientific conferences and international congresses and made about 30 reports.
The most important publications of A.A. Leonov are: “Pedestrian of Space” (1967), “Solar Wind” (1969), “Going Out into Outer Space” (1970), “Perception of Space and Time in Space” (Leonov, Lebedev; 1966 ), “Features of psychological training of cosmonauts” (Leonov, Lebedev; 1967).
He was twice awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union (1965, 1975), as well as the titles of laureate of the USSR State Prize (1981) and laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize.
A.A. Leonov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, “For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces”, III degree. He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor of Bulgaria, Hero of Labor of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He was also awarded a large gold medal "For services to the development of science and to humanity", a medal named after Z. Needly (Czechoslovakia), two large gold medals "Space", two de Lavaux medals, a gold medal named after Yu.A. Gagarin, a large gold medal named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and many other foreign orders and medals. He was awarded the K. Harmon International Aviation Prize. He is an honorary citizen of 30 cities of the world: Vologda, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Perm, Chuguev, Kremenchug, Belgorod, Cherepovets, Nalchik, Karaganda, Arkalyk, Dzhezkazgan, Kaluga, Gagarin, Kirzhach, Leninsk, Druskininkai (Lithuania), Altenburg (former GDR) , Ustje na Labe (Czechoslovakia); Sofia, Plevna, Plovdiv, Varna, Vidin, Ruse, Svishchev, Kolarov grad, Silistria (Bulgaria); New York, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Hyattsville, Oklahoma, San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City (USA). In the name of A.A. Leonov named one of the craters on the Moon.
A.A. Leonov was elected a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics, an academician of the Russian Academy of Astronautics, co-chairman of the International Association of Space Flight Participants (1985-1999), and has an academic degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences.
He retired with the rank of major general of aviation. From 1992 to 2000, he was president of the specialized investment fund Alfa Capital. Since 2000 - Vice President of Alfa Bank.
During his school years, Alexey Arkhipovich began to get involved in painting. He was captivated by pictures of the surrounding nature, and wonder at the creations of human hands always lives in him. From this surprise - the desire to sketch both the arch of the lock on the canal and the old brigantine... A.A. Leonov is the author of about 200 paintings and 5 art albums, including cosmic landscapes, science fiction, earthly landscapes, portraits of friends (watercolor, oil, Dutch gouache). Even in a budget of time that is stingy for his hobbies, he finds hours to carefully study his creative work.
two great artists of the past and great masters of our time. During the short months of military service in the GDR, for example, he visited the Dresden Art Gallery several times, visited the Altenburg Art Gallery and other museums. Since 1965 he has been a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. His favorite artist is Aivazovsky. He considers Nikolai Romadin one of the best Russian landscape painters; among Soviet artists he highly appreciates Yuri Kugach and Skitaltsev. There are also favorite sculptors. He knows the work of Grigory Postnikov best of all. This sculptor, before others, devoted himself to depicting the daring of man in the conquest of outer space.
In addition to his passion for painting, A. A. Leonov loves to read books from the “Life of Remarkable People” series. His other passions include cycling, tennis, volleyball, basketball, hunting, photography and filming (he shot and voiced a series of 17 films, “Cosmonauts Without Masks”).
Alexey Leonov is a name that speaks for itself. The first man to go into outer space! A crater on the Moon, an airport in Kemerovo, a street in Perm and a school in the city of Gagarin are named after him.
Twice hero of the Soviet Union, a legendary man. It seemed like we knew everything about him and his life! But there is another Leonov and another life...
In our film, we found a person who was involved in rescuing Leonov when he landed in the remote taiga, two thousand kilometers from the desired point! Leonov also spoke for the first time about the fact that the producers of the Hollywood film “Gravity” consulted with him. After all, he knows better than anyone about the dangers of emergency situations in space. How many of them he himself experienced!
There are many myths associated with Leonov's work. We will show a chronicle of Leonov's entry into space. The announcer speaks in an enthusiastic voice about the feat of the Soviet cosmonaut. The next news release - Leonov and the ship's commander Belyaev are already being greeted as heroes in Moscow. But what's left behind the scenes? It turns out that Leonov almost died during that flight!
The astronaut will tell you that his spacesuit was so swollen that he could not enter the ship's airlock. Then, contrary to all instructions, he released the pressure in the suit and pulled himself into the hatch not with his feet, but with his head first. Further more. The ship lost its automatic orientation. The astronauts had to land the ship further than the landing point - 2000 kilometers away! Leonov will remember how they tried to warm themselves by the fire in the remote Perm taiga, without warm clothes and food.
Leonov was on the verge of death more than once! So, in 1969, Leonov was in Leonid Brezhnev’s motorcade - everyone was going to the Kremlin for a reception in honor of the cosmonauts. On the same day, an attempt was made on Brezhnev's life. The Secretary General himself was not affected, but the driver with whom Leonov was sitting was killed. The bullet flew just 20 centimeters from the astronaut! “Only a miracle saved me,” says Leonov.
Together with Leonov, we went to the town of Kirzhach - the place where Gagarin died. We visited the Zvezda research and production enterprise, where its engineers showed us the same ship's airlock that Leonov could not enter, and the same capsule in which he descended to the ground.
We will also see a painting of an astronaut! Leonov has been painting pictures for more than half a century!
Taking part in the film:
Alexey Leonov - cosmonaut, twice Hero of the USSR;
Joseph Kobzon - singer, People's Artist of the USSR;
Viktor Gorbatko - cosmonaut, twice Hero of the USSR;
Viktor Blagov - chief specialist in space flight control;
Boris Mikhailov - head of the testing department of NPP Zvezda;
Viktor Naumkin - search and rescue pilot;
Natalya Koroleva - daughter of Sergei Korolev;
Anatoly Gushchin - actor;
Yuri Lonchakov - head of the Cosmonaut Training Center;
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov is a test pilot, cosmonaut, artist, the first earthling to go into outer space, winner of many prizes and awards.
Childhood and youth
Alexey Leonov was born on May 30, 1934 in the village of Listvyanka. His grandfather was exiled here for participating in the events of 1905, and a little later the parents of the future cosmonaut, who had previously lived in the Donbass, also moved to Siberia. Alexey's father, Arkhip Alekseevich, had to change his profession as a miner to a peasant share, and his mother, Evdokia Minaevna, worked as a teacher.
There were many children in the Leonov family; Lesha himself was the youngest, ninth child. Family happiness and everyday life were disrupted by Stalinist repressions. In 1936, Arkhip Leonov, a respected man, the chairman of the village council, was arrested on false charges. The authorities deprived the wife and children of their property and kicked them out of the house, and the children were forbidden to go to school. Fortunately, Leonov Sr. managed to survive in the camps, and in 1939 the father of a large family was acquitted and returned home.
By that time, Evdokia Minaevna, desperate to feed her children alone, having lost her job and roof over her head, moved to Kemerovo, to live with her eldest daughter. She had a room in the barracks, where the large Leonov family lived for about a year. A year later, the father returned, and the family slowly began to get back on their feet. First, they were given two more rooms in the same barracks, and in 1948, Arkhip Alekseevich was assigned to a new place of work in Kaliningrad, where the Leonovs moved.
As fate would have it, little Alyosha went to school only at the age of 9, in Kemerovo. In elementary school, the boy became interested in drawing. At first he saw an album with black and white reproductions from a classmate, and soon became addicted to the art of painting stoves. He learned the latter from immigrants from Ukraine who also moved to Siberia.
Alyosha finished high school in Kaliningrad. By the time he received his certificate in 1953, Alexey had fully mastered the design of aircraft engines, aircraft and the theory of flight. The young man gained this knowledge by reading the notes of his older brother, who had once studied to become an aviation technician.
The year 1953 was a turning point in the biography and fate of the future cosmonaut: he hesitated in choosing a profession between art and aviation. Alexey applied to the Riga Academy of Arts, but upon learning that dormitories are available to students only from the third year of study, he left the first year.
Cosmonautics
After failure with the Academy of Arts, Leonov entered the elementary aviation school in Kremenchug, where Komsomol recruitment was just taking place. Upon completion of his studies in 1955, the young pilot continued his education at the Chuguev Higher Aviation School, where he received the specialty of a fighter pilot. After graduating from college, from 1957 to 1959, Alexey Leonov served in the tenth guards aviation division in Kremenchug, from 1959 to 1960 - in Germany, as part of the Soviet troops.
In the fall of 1959, Alexei Arkhipovich was destined to once again change his fate dramatically. It was then that he met the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center (CPC), Colonel Karpov. At the first selection committee in Sokolniki, Leonov first met with whom he subsequently developed a strong friendship.
In 1960, Alexei Leonov was enrolled in a special detachment. This was followed by CPC courses and countless training sessions. In 1964, the design bureau under the leadership of Korolev began construction of a new spacecraft that would allow astronauts to go into airless space. This ship was Voskhod-2.
Two crews were preparing for the flight. The main team included Alexey Lenov and, their backups were cosmonauts Khrunov and Gorbatko. The historic flight and the first manned spacewalk took place on March 18, 1965.
After the flight on Voskhod 2, Leonov was part of a group of cosmonauts who were trained for the flight and landing on the Moon, but in the end the program was closed. Leonov's next entry into earth orbit took place in 1975, when the legendary docking of the Soviet Soyuz-19 spacecraft and the American Apollo was carried out.
In 1982-1991, Leonov was the first deputy head of the CPC; in 1992 he retired.
First spacewalk
The launch of the ship from Baikonur was successful and the subsequent flight proceeded as normal. It was planned that Vostok-2 should make seventeen orbits around the Earth. On the second orbit, Leonov had to enter airless space through a special airlock. That's how it all happened. Alexei’s partner, the ship’s captain Pavel Belyaev, remained on board and watched what was happening with the help of television cameras.
Alexey Leonov spent 12 minutes 9 seconds in outer space. The astronaut was filmed by two static cameras, and another camera was in his hands. Along with the delight of what he saw and the significance of the accomplished feat, Alexey Arkhipovich also experienced unpleasant sensations.
It was unbearably hot in the spacesuit, sweat poured into his eyes, the astronaut began to experience tachycardia, and his temperature rose. There were also problems when returning to the ship. From being in a vacuum, Leonov’s spacesuit swelled, and it was impossible to squeeze through the opening of the airlock chamber. The hero had to relieve the pressure so that the volume of the suit returned to normal. Considering that his hands were full of the camera and the safety rope, it was not easy.
Finally, the astronaut got into the airlock compartment, but then another trouble awaited him. When the airlock chamber was disconnected, the ship depressurized. This problem was solved by supplying oxygen, as a result of which the crew began to experience oxygen oversaturation.
Having dealt with the malfunctions, the astronauts prepared to make an automatic landing in normal mode, but that was not the case. The ship was supposed to descend on the seventeenth orbit around the Earth, but the system failed. Pavel Belyaev had to urgently take over control. The captain did it in 22 seconds, but this time difference was enough for the crew to land 75 kilometers from the planned location. This happened two hundred kilometers from Perm, in the taiga, which made the work of search engines very difficult.
After four hours of being in the snow, in the cold, the astronauts were discovered by rescuers. The heroes were helped to get to the nearest wooden house in the forest, then a site was cleared for a helicopter landing, and only two days later the Vostok-2 crew was safely evacuated and transported to Moscow.
Personal life
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov met his future wife, Svetlana, in 1957. Three days after they met, they got married so as not to be separated. The Leonovs had two daughters.
The eldest daughter Victoria (1961-1996) died from a serious sudden illness. The woman worked at the headquarters of the navy, and upon returning from a business trip to America, she suddenly felt unwell. The parents took their daughter to the capital’s doctors, but they could not help. Victoria died from a severe form of hepatitis complicated by pneumonia.
The youngest daughter of Alexei and Svetlana Leonov, Oksana, was born in 1967. She works as a translator, is married, and thanks to Oksana, the Leonov couple have two grandchildren growing up.
Until 2000, Leonov served as president of the Alfa Capital investment fund, then became vice president of the bank with the same name. Now the cosmonaut lives near Moscow, in a house he designed with his own hands.
In addition to astronautics, Alexey Arkhipovich is also known as an artist. In adulthood, he still found time for his childhood hobby. Leonov is the author of two hundred paintings and five albums with reproductions. His works include space and earth landscapes, portraits of friends, and fantastic scenes. Leonov the artist loves to work in oils, watercolors and Dutch gouache.
The Hero of the Soviet Union also enjoys reading, cycling, fencing, hunting, tennis, basketball, photography and filming. Such activity and energy are surprising, considering how old Alexey Leonov is (almost 83 years old).
In 2017, the film “The Time of the First” was released on the screens of the country, dedicated to the exploits and everyday life of the Soviet cosmonautics, with and starring.
The actors and Alexey Leonov himself, who advised the film crew at various stages, were invited to Malakhov’s program “Tonight”, timed to coincide with the release of the film.
Merits
Alexey Arkhipovich is a holder of dozens of domestic and foreign awards, orders, and medals. The cosmonaut is an honorary citizen of 30 cities around the world, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, an academician of the Russian Academy of Astronautics, and he is a candidate of technical sciences.
- development of a hydro laboratory and creation of a spacesuit for working in the hydrosphere (1966);
- study of light and color characteristics of vision after space flight (1967);
- the influence of space flight factors on the visual acuity of the pilot of the Buran complex (1980).
Bibliography
Alexey Leonov has published books and scientific publications, including:
- "Space Pedestrian" (1967);
- "Solar Wind" (1969);
- “Going Out into Outer Space” (1970);
- “Features of psychological training of astronauts” (1967).
