First in space. Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov

Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first in the world on March 18, 1965 to go into outer space from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, where he spent more than 12 minutes. “When I left the airlock, I felt a powerful flow of light and heat, reminiscent of electric welding. Above me was a black sky and bright, unblinking stars. The sun appeared to me like a hot fiery disk. I felt vastness and lightness, it was light and good,” he said on March 23 on Red Square. Behind us was a flight into space, overcoming emergency situations and a two-day wait for a search party in the cold taiga. Overnight, the USSR pulled far ahead in the space race with the USA, two crew members - Alexey Leonov and Pavel Belyaev - became heroes of the Soviet Olympus, a symbol of its technical power.

Pavel Belyaev died in 1970 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. 81-year-old Alexey Leonov continues to live and work. On the 51st anniversary of the first manned spacewalk, we will tell you about the path of a native of the village of Listvyanka, Kemerovo region, to the top of world cosmonautics.

Leonov family, photo taken in Kemerovo on January 1, 1948. The future space conqueror is second from the right in the middle row.

Alexey Leonov was born on May 30, 1934 in the village of Listvyanka, Kemerovo region and was the eighth child in the family (the Leonovs had nine children in total). Grandfather Alexei Arkhipovich was exiled to Listvyanka for participating in the events of 1905. The father of the future cosmonaut was a livestock specialist, chairman of the village council, and his mother was a teacher. In 1937, Arkhip Leonov was repressed and all his property was confiscated. After this, the pregnant mother and children had to move to Kemerovo to live with their eldest daughter, who lived with her husband in a 16-meter room in the hut of the thermal power plant builders. In 1939, the father was rehabilitated, after his return and the birth of Alexandra’s children, the family increased to eighteen people. In 1947, Leonov Sr. was sent to work in Kaliningrad, where his mother and younger children, including Alexei, had moved. Many relatives of the astronaut still live in this city.

This photo was taken on April 10, 1952 at secondary school No. 21 in Kaliningrad during a chemistry class. Leonov will graduate from school in 1953.

One of Alexey Leonov’s favorite hobbies is drawing. His talents as an artist appeared quite early, and after graduating from school, he submitted documents to the Riga Academy of Arts. A talented young man was enrolled in the first year when he found out that he did not have the right to a dormitory. I had to look for other options. Full support was offered by the 10th Military Aviation School for initial training of pilots in Kremenchug (central Ukraine), where Komsomol recruitment was announced, and, without hesitation, Leonov entered there. After completing the initial training course, he was transferred to the military aviation school in the city of Chuguev (Kharkiv region).

March 13, 1956. Leonov is a cadet at the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School (VAUL). He will complete his training in 1957, after which he will be sent for military service to the Guards Aviation Regiment in Kremenchug.

In Kremenchug, Alexey Arkhipovich met Svetlana Pavlovna Dotsenko, who became his wife three days later. The couple are still together, Svetlana Pavlovna worked as an editor in the editorial and publishing department of the Cosmonaut Training Center (CPC), and is now retired. The marriage produced two children - Victoria and Oksana. Victoria, who worked at the Ministry of the Navy, died at the age of 35 from hepatitis, and Oksana works as a translator and has a family and children. She is now 49 years old.

Beach photos taken on July 1, 1964 during a vacation on the Black Sea. On the last one are Alexey Leonov and Pavel Belyaev.

By the way, Alexey Arkhipovich has been depicted drawing in many photographs, starting from his school days. From time to time his works, including those on the theme of space, can be seen at exhibitions:

At the end of 1959, Leonov was transferred to an air regiment stationed in Germany, but three months later he was recalled to Moscow - he was selected to join the first cosmonaut corps. In 2015, the cosmonaut spoke about this in an interview with actor Yevgeny Mironov, who plays him in the film “The Time of the First” (the premiere of the film is scheduled for October 27, 2016):

“Chief designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, after launching the first satellite on October 4, 1957, began developing a manned spacecraft. He believed that the first cosmonauts should be fighter pilots. Such a pilot is a co-pilot, a navigator, an engineer, a gunner, and a radio operator. The requirements were: not older than 30 years, excellent health, ability to fly in all conditions on MiG aircraft - -15, -17, -19, -21. Out of three thousand guys, 20 were selected. We were tested in a centrifuge, 14 thousand meters high, with only one mask on our face. They tested intelligence, conducted research in chambers of absolute silence, and exposed to high temperatures up to +80 °C for four hours.”

February 1, 1965, during a break between classes, pilot-cosmonauts of the USSR stand at the blackboard, from left to right - Pavel Popovich, Alexei Leonov, Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Belyaev, Valentina Tereshkova, Andriyan Nikolaev. From those times, many photographs have been preserved showing future space discoverers together.

In the following photographs, Belyaev and Leonov are engaged in physical training in Star City. March 1965, the legendary flight will take place very soon...

March 18, 1965 became the culminating day for the Soviet-American space race and the life of Alexei Leonov himself. At 10.00 Moscow time, a three-stage Voskhod launch vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which launched the Voskhod-2 spacecraft into orbit. The crew consisted of two people: ship commander Pavel Belyaev and co-pilot Alexei Leonov. Already at 11.34 Moscow time, Leonov, having overcome the airlock chamber, went into outer space - for the first time in the history of mankind. At this time, Pavel Belyaev announced to the whole world: “Attention! Man has entered outer space! Video footage from space was broadcast on all channels.

The astronaut spent a little more than 12 minutes in outer space, moving as far as possible from the spacecraft to a distance of five meters. However, during the flight, the cosmonauts encountered a number of serious problems, which were overcome by the high professionalism of the crew. According to Leonov, “there were seven serious emergency situations, of which three or four were fatal.” The first major problem arose from the spacesuit:

“At the eighth minute of the spacewalk, I felt that the phalanges of my fingers came out of my gloves, and my feet dangled freely in my boots, and the spacesuit began to deform. I understood that I would not be able to enter the ship under such pressure. Without permission, I released the pressure, gained freedom, but could not enter the board feet first, as expected. The spacesuit increased in volume, my right hand was occupied by the movie camera, I could not throw it - the result of all the work. I threw the camera into the airlock with my right hand, grabbed the rail (guides inside the airlock) with my right hand and decided to go head first, and then turn around to close the hatch. It was incredibly difficult, because the height of the suit is 1.9 meters, and the airlock is only 1.2 meters in diameter. Just imagine how I would begin to report via open communication to the whole world that I have problems. I didn’t want to create fuss and panic.”

After the cosmonaut returned to the ship, the partial pressure of oxygen in the cabin began to rapidly increase - as it turned out later, Leonov touched the equipment with a hose from his spacesuit. Difficulties also arose during the return of the ship - the automatic orientation system to the Sun did not work and Pavel Belyaev had to manually orient the ship and turn on the braking engine. By the way, these manipulations were also performed for the first time in the world. Nevertheless, the ship successfully landed in the Perm region, 30 km from the city of Berezniki. In total, the flight lasted 26 hours, 2 minutes and 17 seconds. The adventures didn't end there:

“When we landed, they didn’t find us right away. We sat in spacesuits for two days, we had no other clothes. On the third day they pulled us out of there. Because of the sweat, there was about six liters of moisture in my spacesuit up to my knees. So it was gurgling in my legs. Then, already at night, I tell Pasha: “That’s it, I’m cold.” We took off our spacesuits, stripped naked, wrung out our underwear, and put them on again. Then the screen-vacuum thermal insulation was removed. They threw away the entire hard part and put the rest on themselves. These are nine layers of aluminized foil coated with dederon on top. They wrapped themselves on top with parachute lines, like two sausages. And so we stayed there for the night. And at 12 noon a helicopter arrived.”

March 18, 1965, people on the streets of Moscow look at portraits of the Voskhod-2 crew.

“There is a whole science - psychological compatibility. If all crews are built to be compatible, Voskhod 2 will be ideal. I didn’t doubt Pasha for a minute. There were rumors about Korolev's order that if Leonov did not re-enter the ship, abandon it and return. Pasha later told me that he would rather shoot himself than return alone.”

March 21, 1965, Kazakh SSR. Belyaev and Leonov talk on the phone with the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev after the successful completion of the flight.

A couple of days to rest, and the cosmonauts went to Moscow. On March 23, 2016, from the Mausoleum, Leonov uttered the following words:

“I want to tell you that the picture of the cosmic abyss that I saw, with its grandeur, immensity, brightness of colors and sharp contrasts of thick darkness with the dazzling radiance of the stars, simply amazed and enchanted me. To complete the picture, imagine - against this background I see our Soviet spaceship, illuminated by the bright light of the sun's rays. When I left the airlock, I felt a powerful flow of light and heat, reminiscent of electric welding. Above me was a black sky and bright, unblinking stars. The sun appeared to me like a hot fiery disk. I felt vastness and lightness, it was light and good...”

After the flight into space, world fame fell on Belyaev and Leonov, trips began throughout the Soviet Union and abroad, speeches, receptions, flowers, meetings with Komsomol members and leaders of allied countries of the USSR.

You would never have guessed - in the next photo you see Alexei Leonov and Yuri Gagarin. April 12, 1965, Star City, costumed celebration of new cosmonauts:

After going into space, Alexei Leonov was included in the group of the “lunar” program; he was supposed to become the first person to set foot on the surface of the Earth’s satellite. However, the Americans were ahead of the USSR, and the project was canceled. Then the cosmonaut graduated from the Air Force Engineering Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky, was awarded in 1975 for the successful docking of spacecraft as part of the Soyuz-Apollo program. In 1991, Alexey Arkhipovich retired, lives in Moscow, is engaged in scientific activities and continues to draw.

Maria Al-Salkhani

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On April 12, 1961, the name of Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin became known throughout the world. However, he did not have to enjoy popularity for long. 7 years later, Yuri Gagarin crashed during a routine flight on a training fighter...

The official version of the death of the people's favorite turned out to be incredibly stingy with information. It was only reported that due to a change in the air situation during the flight (details were not specified), the crew made a sharp maneuver and went into a tailspin...

How it was

Yuri Gagarin, together with his instructor Vladimir Seryogin, performed a routine check flight on a training modification of the MiG-15 aircraft. Already 13 minutes after departure, Gagarin reported to the ground that the flight mission had been completed and requested permission to return to base. After this, contact with the crew was lost...

The alarm was sounded only after it became clear that the plane had exhausted its entire fuel supply. The crash site was discovered 3 hours after the start of the search operation. And the public learned about the tragedy two days later.

What makes the incident especially mysterious is the fact that the pilots did not say a word about equipment malfunctions or other abnormal incidents. They didn't even sound the alarm!

Disaster investigation

To investigate the causes of the disaster, a special state commission was created, which consisted of three independent subgroups. In addition, a KGB commission worked separately to find out whether the disaster was the result of a conspiracy, terrorist attack or malicious intent.

Despite the fact that so many people were involved in the investigation, no one heard a clear explanation of the disaster!

All that was clear was that the plane unexpectedly fell into a tailspin, and the crew tried to the last to correct the situation. Some 200 meters were not enough for Gagarin and Seregin to stabilize the car and escape...

What the commission hid

The findings of the state commission were declassified only on the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight into space. They could not give a definite answer about the cause of the tragedy, but they shed light on a number of serious violations that accompanied the flight.

Thus, Gagarin’s instructor, Vladimir Seryogin, was almost half an hour late for the scheduled start, which is why the flight went off schedule. The on-board barospeedograph, which can be called an analogue of a black box, was not loaded with paper, and the flight was not actually controlled from the ground... This all speaks of the extremely negligent attitude of all the personnel!

By the way, parachute packs were also found among the remains at the crash site, but there were no parachutes in them! However, it later turned out that after the accident they were stolen by men from a neighboring village.

Version by Alexey Leonov

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov put forward another version of what happened. Moreover, he is so confident that he is right that he boldly calls this hypothesis the true cause of Gagarin’s death!

In his opinion, the MiG-15 of Gagarin and Seregin was caught in a vortex wake from a jet plane that passed nearby. Indeed, on the day of the tragedy, two Su-15s took off from the airfield in Ramenskoye.

However, the flight mission of the Sushki crew was very different. They had to fly at an altitude of over 10 kilometers, and Gagarin's plane - at an altitude of about 4 kilometers. In addition, the entries in the flight sheets indicate that at the time of the tragedy both Su-15s were at the airfield.

Specialist versions

Most experts agreed that the plane stalled into a tailspin due to a sharp maneuver performed by the crew. But what could provoke experienced pilots to take such an action?

Indeed, about a dozen probes were found near the accident site. However, the investigation does not provide any information about the search for that same probe. But it was easy to check this version: the place from where they were launched, the time, ascent speed and other data were known. However, no one did this...

Conspiracy theories

Finally, a little conspiracy theory. The hypothesis of a “Soviet lunar conspiracy” received the greatest resonance among alternative versions. Allegedly, the USSR was desperately trying to maintain its primacy in the space race and threw all its efforts into landing on the Moon before the Americans.

According to this version, Gagarin crashed several days earlier while flying on the new Zond-4 spacecraft of the Soviet lunar flyby program L1. Naturally, no one wanted to advertise the failure. All materials were classified by staging the death of an astronaut during a training flight.

There is also a very popular version that Gagarin had a conflict with the country’s top leadership. The party bosses did not tolerate the presumptuous cosmonaut and ordered the special services to remove the objectionable person.

Domestic cosmonautics knows a large number of outstanding personalities. But among them, the Soviet Alexey Arkhipovich stands out. First of all, he is known for being the first person who was not afraid to go into outer space. This is what made Leonov the cosmonaut famous. The biography of this outstanding personality will be the subject of our discussion.

Birth and childhood

In the Kemerovo region, whose territory then belonged to the West Siberian Territory, the future Soviet cosmonaut Leonov was born. Date of birth: May 30, 1934. His parents, Arkhip Alekseevich Leonov and Evdokia Minaevna Sotnikova, in addition to little Alyosha, raised seven more children.

When Alexey was three years old, his family was repressed. The father went to prison, and the mother and children were forced to move to Kemerovo, since their house was actually given over to plunder. But after two years, my father was rehabilitated.

In Kemerovo A. A. Leonov went to school, but in 1947 the family, due to a change in the breadwinner’s place of work, was forced to move to Kaliningrad. It was in this city that the future great cosmonaut received his secondary education.

From early childhood, A. A. Leonov dreamed of an army career, so after receiving a certificate of secondary education (1953), he entered the Military Aviation School, which he successfully graduated in 1955. Two years later, he completed his studies at a school of the relevant profile.

Development of astronautics

Meanwhile, the second half of the 50s and 60s of the 20th century were a time of turbulence. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched an artificial Earth satellite. In the same year, the first living creature, the dog Laika, was launched into orbit in an aircraft. The question of the possibility of human space flight became increasingly urgent.

In 1960, the USSR Air Force selected the first cosmonaut corps, which included 20 of the most trained pilots. It was from among the members of this detachment that the crew for the first Soviet space expeditions was formed. A. A. Leonov was also included in this list of twenty most worthy. Besides him, the detachment included Dmitry Zaikin, Pavel Anikeev, Adrian Nikolaev and many other famous pilots. The honor of becoming the first cosmonaut was given to Yuri Gagarin. In April 1961, he made his first orbital flight on the Vostok-1 spacecraft.

From 1961 to 1964, G. Titov, A. Nikolaev, P. Popovich, V. Bykovsky and V. Komarov also made space flights. The crew that made the flight in October 1964, in addition to the commander, consisted of two more people. This opportunity was provided by a new type of multi-seat spacecraft “Voskhod”, which replaced the “Vostok” series.

Soviet cosmonaut Leonov was waiting for his turn. A photo with him and Yuri Gagarin can be seen above.

Historical flight

A new space mission was planned for mid-March 1965. It consisted of two people. The commander was appointed and the pilot was A. A. Leonov. The flight was supposed to take place on the Voskhod-2 multi-seat spacecraft, which, compared to the first version, was modified.

Initially, the objectives of the expedition included implementation and it was considered as part of the USSR lunar program.

In outer space

After the spacecraft entered orbit, it was necessary to achieve the main goal of the flight - a spacewalk. This problem was to be solved by A. A. Leonov. The astronaut immediately moved into the airlock chamber, after which the crew commander closed the compartment and began depressurizing it. Then Alexey Arkhipovich left the airlock chamber and went into outer space. It was this act that A. A. Leonov (cosmonaut) became famous throughout the world. A photo of his time in outer space is located below.

It should be noted that while outside the spacecraft, Alexey Arkhipovich felt discomfort: his body temperature rose, increased sweating began, and his breathing and heart rate increased. The astronaut spent more than twelve minutes in open space.

The return to the spacecraft was associated with some difficulties. Due to the fact that the suit was so swollen, Leonov found it difficult to return to the airlock. Therefore, in violation of the instructions, he was forced to squeeze into it with the help of his hands, head first.

Landing

The landing of the spacecraft was also accompanied by some unforeseen incidents. It was supposed to be carried out automatically after the ship completed 17 orbits around the orbit. But the automation failed. Therefore, Voskhod-2 had to be landed manually after 18 orbits.

The landing site turned out to be a taiga area in the Perm region. The rescue expedition was able to find the crew of the spacecraft only on the second day. This was explained by the fact that due to failures in the automation, the landing occurred in an unplanned place.

Further career as an astronaut

After completing a historic flight, which culminated in the first successful human spacewalk, Alexey Leonov received the title of Hero of the USSR. He was awarded the highest Soviet awards - the Golden Star and the Order of Lenin.

After this and until 1969 inclusive, Leonov took part in the Soviet lunar program. But after the Americans landed on the Moon, it was curtailed, since the USSR lost the championship to the USA in the “lunar race”. Now the Earth's natural satellite was not of particular interest to the domestic cosmonautics. Although at one time it was planned that Leonov should become the person who first landed on the Moon.

At this time, along with work, Alexey Arkhipovich studied engineering at the Air Force Academy.

In 1975, A. Leonov made his second flight into space. This time it was he who was the commander of the crew, which, besides him, included V. Kubasov. The flight was carried out on a Soyuz-19 aircraft and lasted more than five days. For this expedition he was once again awarded the title of Hero of the USSR.

In January 1982, forty-seven-year-old A. Leonov, along with other pilots of his generation, left the cosmonaut team. This was primarily due to his age. At the same time, he continued to hold the position of deputy until 1991. head of the CPC. In 1991 he retired with the rank of major general.

Activities in retirement

But Alexey Arkhipovich is not the kind of person to take a well-deserved rest. Already in 1992, he headed a company developing space programs. In addition, he is an official advisor to a member of the board of directors of one of the largest Russian banks.

Alexey Arkhipovich's main hobby at present is painting. In this matter, he received well-deserved recognition from professionals. A. Leonov collaborates with the artist A. Sokolov, with whom he is a co-author of a series of postage stamps.

Alexey Arkhipovich does not shy away from politics either. He is currently a member of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party organization. Dmitry Medvedev, who at that time served as the President of Russia, personally congratulated him on his 75th birthday.

Family

Alexey Leonov's wife is Svetlana Pavlovna Dotsenko, born in 1940. In the past, she worked as an editor at the publishing house TsPK, and is now retired.

In their marriage, they had two daughters - Victoria (b. 1961) and Oksana (b. 1967). But Victoria, who worked at the State Institution Sovfracht, died in 1996 due to hepatitis with pneumonic complications. Oksana currently works as a translator.

Personality assessment

So, we learned about such an outstanding personality in history as A. A. Leonov (cosmonaut). His biography was quite difficult: already at an early age he encountered Stalinist repressions, and in retirement he experienced the bitterness of losing his daughter.

But, despite all the misadventures and obstacles, A. Leonov managed to become one of the most famous personalities in Soviet and world cosmonautics. It was he who was awarded the honor of going into outer space for the first time. Considering how they treated the selection of candidates at that time, it must be recognized that in order to be appointed to such a mission, a person had to have truly exceptional personal qualities. And Alexey Arkhipovich proved the correctness of this choice in practice.

A. Leonov demonstrated his inflexibility of character and hard work after his retirement, when, instead of retiring for a well-deserved rest, he did not stop active work and social activities.

It is people like A. A. Leonov that Russia is proud of.

Man over the planet

18/03/15, 11:00

For the half-century anniversary of the first manned spacewalk, which was performed by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965, the editors of the RIA Novosti website have prepared a special project in which they will talk about Alexei Leonov’s heroic step into the abyss and the opening of a new era of space exploration. Leonov proved the possibility of human work in outer space, and we will tell you about the most interesting, dramatic moments of this unique event.

Chapter 2

Preparing for a Space Odyssey

In the early morning of October 12, 1964, Alexey Leonov watched with excitement and joy the launch of the Voskhod-1 spacecraft with three cosmonauts from the Gagarin launch pad. This was in many ways a unique start, a new step for humanity in space exploration, because three cosmonauts at once, for the first time in the history of the Earth, left the boundaries of our planet and 24 hours later made a soft landing. But Voskhod 1 was actually the most important stage of testing the ship and various technical systems for an even greater event - a one-on-one walk with the stars. Interesting fact: during negotiations between the Voskhod-1 crew and the Mission Control Center, Shakespeare was quoted, and the astronauts asked to be left in orbit for another day.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, like other “fathers” of the Soviet space program, considered entering outer space one of the most important steps of the Soviet Union on the path to the exploration of the Moon. Initially, the Voskhod series ships were not intended for “walks” in space, which is why Soviet designers had to overcome a lot of problems and limitations when modifying it.

These restrictions hindered not only engineers and scientists, but also future crew members - as Leonov himself noted, he had to agree to narrowing the hatches to such a size that there was only a two-centimeter gap between the astronaut’s shoulders and the “doorway.” In addition, the gateway itself was incredibly cramped and required a special technique for exiting and entering outer space (which will become a problem for our hero later). Any careless movement or emergency situation could lead to the most disastrous consequences. There were no rescue systems installed on the Voskhod, which doomed its occupants to death in the event of accidents and unforeseen situations during landing or takeoff. The astronauts knew this well and still took risks.

Engineers tried to reduce the risk as much as possible by repeatedly checking all Voskhod-2 systems, the operation of the spacesuit, other instruments and mission elements. Before Leonov went into outer space, two draft versions of Voskhod-2, unmanned spaceships Kosmos-57 and Kosmos-59, were launched, on which the designers worked out the operation of the airlock, life support system and other new elements of the Voskhod. The spacesuits and some other mission components were tested in special pressure chambers on Earth.

Despite the explosion of Cosmos 57 and a number of other failures, Korolev and other leaders of the USSR space program considered the results of these experiments satisfactory and gave the go-ahead for the launch of Voskhod 2 in mid-March 1965 with the consent and pressure of the cosmonauts themselves.

Alexey Leonov knew about the task in store for him and purposefully prepared for its implementation for almost two years. According to him, Sergei Korolev personally approached him with the task of solving various problems associated with going into outer space and working in the absence of gravity and atmosphere.

The designer, as Leonov said, believed that an astronaut should be like a sailor, able to “swim” and carry out complex repair and research work in space. Therefore, Leonov, together with specialists from RSC Energia, worked for several years to create rules for the use of technical fastening systems, cables, airlocks and other tools necessary for spacewalks, which today have already become a standard in the space industry. As a result, a special inflatable airlock chamber appeared for Voskhod-2, adjusted in size to Leonov, dressed in a spacesuit. During takeoff, it was folded inside the Voskhod, and left it and inflated after entering orbit. The Berkut spacesuits and other astronaut paraphernalia were also developed with Leonov’s participation.

The crews for the future Voskhod-2 were selected almost a year before its flight - in July 1964, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev were chosen as the pilot and commander of the ship, and Viktor Gorbatko and Evgeniy Khrunov were appointed as their backups. Later Dmitry Zaikin joined them.

The cosmonauts trained according to a program developed with Leonov's participation, and worked out various stages of solving a simple task that the Earth set for them - to get out of the ship and take a couple of photographs. For this purpose, as Leonov recalls, the KGB chairman lent the cosmonauts real spy equipment - an Ajax microcamera that fits in a button.

The final decision to send Leonov and Belyaev aboard Voskhod 2 was made in February 1965, when tests aboard Cosmos 57 were completed. Only three of the five cosmonauts—Leonov, Belyaev, and Khrunov—prepared directly for the flight on launch day. Evgeniy Khrunov trained according to a special program and was ready to replace both Leonov and Belyaev in case of illness or some other problems.

Chapter 3

Earth in the porthole

Exactly at 10 o'clock Moscow time on March 18, 1965, a launch vehicle carrying the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, carrying Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev, took off from Baikonur. After the spacecraft entered orbit, the cosmonauts began deploying the airlock in preparation for entering outer space.

“After the spacecraft was launched into orbit, we felt like we were in a soft carriage of a fast train: a slight sway, a slight vibration, something was crackling somewhere... We tried to make conscious movements with our hands, touching some objects. We wanted to know if it was possible for a person to work under conditions of heavy overload, is it possible for him to actively intervene in the control of the rocket vehicle. And we were convinced that this is possible," Alexey Leonov said about his feelings.

At 11:28 a.m., Alexey Leonov completed the process of putting on a spacesuit, closed the hatch leading to the inflatable airlock behind him, and began the depressurization procedure. Four minutes later the airlock was cleared of air, and the astronaut opened the hatch leading to open space. Having received permission from the commander, Leonov began the first spacewalk in human history at 11:34 Moscow time.

“What immediately caught my eye was the unusually black sky. On Earth it is very difficult to compare it with anything. Even in the film that you watch, the color rendition of the sky is incorrect: it turned out to be dark brown, but in reality the sky there is black with a transition to violet. The stars seem to be in limbo, and the Sun seems to be on the wall. It is bright, without rays," recalled Alexey Leonov.

The main and, in fact, the only task of Alexey Leonov was a relatively simple operation - attach a “spy” camera to the wall of the airlock, “sail away” from it and take a couple of photographs of the spacecraft. He completed the first part of this task, but then a series of problems began, which almost led to the death of the astronaut and his commander, which they learned about on Earth only after the Voskhod landing.

After going into space, Alexey Arkhipovich was so amazed by the view of the universal abyss that opened up to his eyes that he lost his sense of time, in his words, “hovering over the Earth like a seagull with outstretched wings.” The astronaut noticed the problem only when his life was already in serious danger.

“Perhaps the most vivid impression is space and time. I felt the finite size of the Earth when you immediately see the territories, as on a globe. That is, without turning my head, I saw the entire Black Sea. And when I turned, I saw Romania, Bulgaria, there, on the horizon, Italy and raised his head - here is the Baltic Sea. But I was struck by the silence. Silence, extraordinary silence. And the opportunity to hear my own breathing and heart contraction," Leonov recalled that episode in an interview with Dilettant magazine.

After a while, the cosmonaut noticed that the suit was greatly inflated, and this began to hinder the movements of his legs and arms. 12 minutes after entering space, the Berkut inflated to such an extent that Leonov could not fit through the entrance door of the airlock.

“The pressure in the spacesuit is about 600 mm, and outside - 10-9 mm; it was impossible to simulate such conditions on Earth. In a vacuum, the spacesuit inflated so much that neither the stiffeners nor the dense fabric could withstand it. I, of course, assumed that this would happen, but I didn’t think it would be so strong. I tightened all the straps, but the suit swelled so much that my hands came out of my gloves when I grabbed the handrails, and my feet came out of my boots,” Leonov recalled.

Risking being completely paralyzed, Leonov makes a desperate decision without consulting the Earth - he opens the air release valve on the suit and lowers the pressure inside it to a level that allowed him to get into the airlock. Only the commander of his ship, Pavel Belyaev, knew about the danger the first Soviet man was exposed to in space.

“A critical situation arose, and there was no time to consult with the Earth. While I would report to them, while they would confer. And who would take responsibility? Only Pasha Belyaev saw this, but could not help. And here I was, violating all the instructions and without informing the Earth, I switch to a pressure of 0.27 atmospheres. This is the second mode of operation of the spacesuit. If by this time the nitrogen had not been washed out of my blood, the nitrogen would have boiled in my whole body - and that’s it, death! " said Alexey Leonov.

But the cosmonaut did not die and was able to successfully approach the airlock, where he began to have a new series of problems - poorly moving legs prevented him from climbing inside Voskhod 2 according to the instructions, moving feet first. He makes the second risky decision - to enter the airlock head first, throws the video camera and curls up into a ball so that Belyaev can close the airlock and begin the re-sealing procedure.

“As soon as Pasha was sure that the outer hatch was closed and the pressure had equalized, he turned on the timer to open the inner door, and I crawled back onto the Voskhod, in soapy sweat and with a terrible pounding in my heart. Fortunately, these problems "were not included in the television picture - the broadcast of our flight on the radio was suddenly interrupted and Mozart's Requiem began to play. This saved my family from painful unrest at that moment and in the subsequent stages of the flight, when Pasha and I were in mortal danger several more times," said Alexey Leonov.

A few minutes later, Leonov and Belyaev discovered that the oxygen concentration in the cabin began to increase rapidly and rose to dangerously high levels, at which cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko burned alive on Earth five years earlier. The Voskhod 2 crew frantically tried to bring down oxygen levels by lowering the temperature and reducing the humidity, but nothing changed. The cosmonauts spent the next seven hours waiting for the explosion.

“Then we figured out that I touched the boost switch with the hose from the spacesuit. What happened? Since the ship was stabilized relative to the Sun for a long time, deformation naturally occurred: on the one hand, cooling to minus 140 degrees Celsius, on the other, heating to plus 150 degrees. The hatch closing sensors worked, but a gap remained. The regeneration system began to build up pressure, and oxygen began to increase, we did not have time to consume it. The total pressure reached 920 mm. These several tons of pressure pressed down the hatch and the pressure growth stopped. Then the pressure became fall before our eyes,” said Alexey Leonov.

Pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Leonov paints the painting “In Space.” June 1966

Reproduction of the drawing by pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Leonov “Over the Black Sea”. 1968

Reproduction of the painting by USSR pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Leonov "Soyuz Orbital Station - Apollo". 1974

Reproduction of the drawing by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov “Golden Cepheus”. 1971

Drawing by pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Leonov “Man on the Moon.” 1968

Triptych "Yuri Gagarin" by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and science fiction artist Andrei Sokolov. Left part "It is finished" Oil on canvas. 1982

Drawing "Space Drivers" by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and science fiction artist Andrei Sokolov. 1968

Drawing "Solar Eclipse on the Moon" by pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and science fiction artist Andrei Sokolov. 1968

Drawing "Noon of Mars" by pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and science fiction artist Andrei Sokolov. 1970

Drawing by cosmonaut and science fiction artist Alexei Leonov, “Man Above the Planet.” 1968

“Choosing a landing site was my task as a spaceship pilot. Our orbit was such that we could land right in the center of Moscow, on Red Square. But we needed to choose an area where there would be as few people as possible. I decided that we will land next to Perm, counting on the fact that even if I make a mistake with the calculations, we will still land on Soviet soil and will not end up in China, relations with which we had at that time were extremely strained,” recalled Alexey Leonov.

The return of the Voskhod 2 crew to Earth was not easy. The astronauts discovered that the automatic landing system had stopped working, and they had to manually determine the landing site.

"According to the flight program, the lander was supposed to separate from the orbital module 10 seconds after the engines started firing. I started counting down the 10 seconds to myself. When they passed, I realized that something had gone completely wrong. We felt that it was as if something was dragging us from behind, as if someone was pulling us. The forces opposing each other exceeded 10 G, and the capillaries in our eyes burst. Looking through the window, I realized with horror what had happened," the astronaut said.

It turned out that the modules did not separate completely and that they were connected by a thick communication cable, which temporarily became the center of mass around which the halves of Voskhod rotated. This rotation stopped only at an altitude of 100 kilometers, when the cable burned out and the modules separated. The subsequent landing proceeded calmly, with the exception of one episode when Voskhod-2 fell into a dense cloud and Alexey Leonov began to think that the ship was landing in a deep gorge.

“When we flew over Crimea, we restored contact with the Earth for the first time in a long time. The first thing I heard was: “How are you there, blond?” Where did you land?" It was Yuri Gagarin, he always called me blond. I was very pleased to hear his voice - even in those circumstances, it was full of warmth and even relaxation," recalled Alexey Arkhipovich.

Facts about spacesuits

Voskhod 2 landed at 1 pm Moscow time in the Perm region, several thousand kilometers north and west of the intended landing point, where they were picked up by rescuers a few days later. Around the same time, the USSR media announced the first manned spacewalk.

Instruments showed that the ship deviated greatly from the intended course and landed two thousand kilometers east of Perm, in the deep Siberian taiga. As Alexei Leonov joked, answering the commander’s questions about when they would be found, “in three months, on dog and reindeer sleds.” In fact, the cosmonauts landed almost where they planned - 70 kilometers north of the city of Berezniki.

The crew was found quickly due to the fact that the landing signal was recorded by radio operators on board a cargo plane that was flying not far from the Voskhod-2 landing site. In the evening of the first day, a civilian helicopter arrived at the landing site, but was unable to pick up the astronauts due to the fact that it simply had nowhere to land, and the ropes and rope ladders it had were too thin to lift the astronauts in a full spacesuit.

Later, several more helicopters and planes flew up to the landing site, the pilots of one of which tried to cheer up the astronauts by dropping them a bottle of cognac, while others shared with them an axe, warm shoes and clothes. Alexey Leonov, laughing, said that the bottle broke and the ax turned out to be unsharpened, but the clothes were suitable for the harsh Perm frosts.

“It was getting dark quickly, and we realized that today we would not be rescued and we would have to defend ourselves. The temperature was dropping quickly, and the sweat that had filled my spacesuit after going into space turned into a semi-frozen slurry in my boots, filling them up to my knees. I felt unsteady , and I realized that the two of us were in danger of frostbite if we didn’t get rid of the moisture in our spacesuits,” Leonov recalled.

The astronauts had to undress, pour out all the water, squeeze out the soft parts of the spacesuits and get rid of their metal parts. By night it became even colder, and Belyaev and Leonov had to climb back into the capsule and spend the night there. Leonov recalled that he was afraid of attacks by wolves and bears, and mentally counted the number of cartridges in the pistol that was issued to the crews of Soviet cosmonauts.

In the morning they were awakened by the drone of a plane circling over the landing site, and a few hours later rescue skiers arrived along with doctors and a cameraman. They "delighted" the astronauts with a new problem - the rescue was postponed for a day, since another group of rescuers had to finish clearing the forest for landing the helicopter only in 24 hours.

The Voskhod crew spent this day and night in noticeably greater comfort - the rescuers built a log house from tree trunks and lit a large fire. They brought with them a bathtub from Perm, as well as a lot of cheese, sausage and bread - a real feast after several days of deprivation.

The next day, the astronauts put on skis and made a nine-kilometer run together with rescuers to the helicopter landing site. From there they were transported to Baikonur, where they were first met by Yuri Gagarin and Sergei Korolev.

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov after the successful landing of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. March 19, 1965

The crew of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, Heroes of the Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonauts Alexei Leonov (left) and Pavel Belyaev (second from right). Meeting at the airport in Perm. March 1965

Pilot-cosmonauts Alexei Leonov (right) and Pavel Belyaev (left) in the city of Perm after the landing of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. In the center - Secretary of the Perm Regional Committee of the CPSU K.I. Galanshin. March 21, 1965

Meeting of pilot-cosmonauts Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov in Moscow after the end of the flight into space of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. March 23, 1965

Solemn meeting of the crew of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, pilot-cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev. Moscow, March 23, 1965

Meeting of the crew members of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, pilot-cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev at Vnukovo airport. March 23, 1965

Chapter 7

Step into space

Chapter 8

On the ground

Alexey Leonov was born on May 30, 1934 in the small village of Listvyanka, Kemerovo region. The tsarist government exiled the future cosmonaut’s grandfather here for revolutionary activities, and Alexei’s parents gradually moved to Listvyanka from Donbass. In 1937, his father was taken away due to a denunciation, and his pregnant mother and her children were literally kicked out onto the street. The big family was sheltered by the older sister's husband. Not only was he not afraid to take the family of an enemy of the people into his 16-meter room, but he also worked very hard to feed a horde of other people’s children.

The older sister read books by Jules Verne to little Alexey. Subsequently, he noted that he first became acquainted with the idea of going into outer space in the books of Jules Verne and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Art was another passion of Alexei. Since childhood, he admired Aivazovsky's works and in the first grade he even exchanged his monthly food ration for the first album with Aivazovsky's paintings. But not only books and paintings interested young Alexei; the sky attracted him most of all. In 1953, he graduated from high school with good grades in all subjects and an outstanding knowledge of aviation and art. Alexey learned aviation technology - aircraft engines and aircraft structures, and even the basics of flight theory from the notes of his older brother - an aviation technician.

After successful training at the 10th Military Aviation School in Kremenchug, Alexey Leonov entered the Chuguev Military Aviation School. And in March 1960, by order of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief, Alexei Leonov was enrolled in the first cosmonaut squad of the Air Force Cosmonaut Training Center. There Leonov met and became friends with Yuri Gagarin. They met at the end of 1959 at a medical examination. In one of his interviews, Leonov said that he saw a young man who, while waiting for his turn, was reading “The Old Man and the Sea” by Hemingway. Leonov himself dreamed of reading this book and, according to him, immediately gained respect for his new acquaintance. Later they became close friends, vacationing and working together, until the death of Yuri Gagarin in 1968.

On March 18-19, 1965, Alexey Leonov, together with Pavel Belyaev, made his first space flight on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. Leonov was the first in the world to leave a ship into outer space.

Leonov and Belyaev returned to Earth as heroes. Over the next few years, the attention paid to their lives was enormous. Already at the Perm airfield they came under fire from film and photo cameras, people who dreamed of just standing next to them. The arrival in Moscow was even more magnificent. The cosmonauts in an open car drove along Leninsky Prospect and the streets adjacent to the Kremlin, with huge crowds standing on the sidewalks to greet them. And only on Red Square did they finally see their relatives.

Due to the strictest secrecy, even Leonov’s family did not know what awaited him on the flight. When the radio broadcast of the spacewalk began, Leonov’s daughter Vika, who was four years old at the time, covered her face with her hands, burst into tears and asked her dad to come back immediately. Alexey Leonov recalled that during the exit he let down Sergei Korolev, who before the launch demanded to report on any action of the cosmonaut in outer space. But at the moment of a serious situation, the astronaut did not maintain contact with the Earth for eight minutes, independently solving the problem of survival, and this is what saved his life. Sergei Korolev later told Leonov: “It’s a miracle you survived!” By the way, Leonov “miraculously survived” in 1969: he was driving in the car of Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev, which was fired upon by officer Viktor Ilyin.

Leonov's career as an astronaut is one of the most striking examples of well-deserved success. His next flight into space was no less significant; the Soviet-American Soyuz-Apollo program became a milestone for manned space flights. Having stopped flying, Leonov showed himself to be an excellent leader; for more than 20 years, from 1970 to 1991, he was deputy head of the Mission Control Center, and then, upon retirement, became an adviser to the chairman of the board of directors of Alfa Bank.

All these years, Leonov did not give up his hobby - painting. A talented artist, an honorary academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, he improved his skills for many years, only the subjects of his paintings remained unchanged.

Leonov met his wife Svetlana while still studying at an aviation school, and literally within three days he proposed and got married: he had to return to his unit. Svetlana even sewed a wedding dress in just one night. Two years after the wedding, the Leonovs’ eldest daughter, Vika, was born. And in 1967, two years after Leonov returned from space, his second daughter, Oksana, was born. In 1996, Victoria died, she was only 35 years old. Alexey Arkhipovich was grieving the death of his daughter; the rest of his family, including his grandchildren Daniil and Karina, helped him cope.

In 1980, the children's publishing house "Malysh" published a book for children, written by Leonov with his own drawings, where the astronaut told how that flight took place. The book ended like this: “Many years have passed since our flight on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. Dozens of cosmonauts have been in space on Soyuz and Salyut. Each solved their own difficult problems. But spacewalking is one of the most difficult operations on orbit. It requires careful preparation, great skill and enormous courage from astronauts. I watch the cosmonauts on television, listen to their conversations and reports to Earth, and every time I experience my flight on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft - the first manned spacewalk. I envy them and wish them success with all my heart."

Alexey Leonov (left in the first row) is a 9th grade student at secondary school No. 21 in Kaliningrad.

Cosmonaut: Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (05/30/1934)

11th cosmonaut of the USSR (15th in the world)
Flight duration (1965): 1 day 2 hours 2 minutes, call sign: “Almaz-2”
Flight duration (1975): 5 days 22 hours 31 minutes, call sign: Soyuz-1.

The biography of cosmonaut Leonov originates in the small village of Listvyanka, Kemerovo region, where the Soviet pilot and cosmonaut was born on May 30, 1934. Alexey is the eighth child in the Leonov family. At the age of 19 he graduated from high school in the city of Kaliningrad. For the next two years, Alexey Arkhipovich is studying at the Military Aviation School in the city of Kremenchug. In 1957, Leonov graduated from the Military Aviation School in the city of Chuguev, after which he went to serve as a fighter pilot. In 1961, in addition to serving, Alexey also entered the VVIA named after. Zhukovsky.

Space training

In March 1960, Alexey Arkhipovich became a cosmonaut student at the Cosmonaut Training Center. In the same year, space training (OKP) for the Soviet pilot began. In 1961, Alexey Leonov completed the OKP, passed the final exams with flying colors and received the qualification “Air Force cosmonaut”. At first, in 1963, Alexey Arkhipovich was preparing to fly on the Vostok-5 spacecraft as a reserve pilot, but already in 1964, Leonov was appointed to the role of 2nd pilot of the crew of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. As part of the program, cosmonaut Alexey Leonov was planned to go into space.

During training, he made 12 flights on a Tu-104LL series aircraft and 6 flights on an Il-14, and also simulated entering open space using a model of the Voskhod spacecraft.

First flight and spacewalk

On March 18, 1965, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft launched from the 1st site of Baikonur at 10 a.m. Moscow time. After the ship was in Earth orbit, the airlock chamber began to inflate during the first orbit around the planet. The cosmonauts put on their spacesuits and Alexei Leonov prepared to go into space. On the second orbit, the astronaut proceeded to the airlock chamber. Pavel closed the hatch to the airlock chamber and started its depressurization.

At the moment the external chamber hatch was opened, the spacecraft was flying over Egypt and had no contact with the USSR command center. Two minutes later, at 11:34:51, when the air left the chamber, cosmonaut Alexey Leonov followed him into space. Secured to the ship with a five-meter cable, Alexey Arkhipovich went into space five times and returned to the spacecraft. During spacewalk, cosmonaut Leonov experienced disturbances in the body, the symptoms of which were tachycardia, twice as fast shallow breathing, elevated temperature (+38 °C) and increased sweating. For these reasons, returning to the ship required great effort from Alexey Leonov.

The astronaut was observed from the outside by two television cameras installed on board the ship. In addition, Alexey Arkhipovich himself filmed with a special S-97 camera. The cosmonaut Belyaev watched his partner from aboard the ship, and he transmitted a message to Earth about the first man’s exit into open space.

Leonov's return to the ship

After 12 minutes and 9 seconds of free flight, the astronaut began returning to the spacecraft. Alexey Arkhipovich was supposed to enter the airlock chamber “feet first”, however, due to the heavily inflated space suit and the presence of a video camera in his hand, the cosmonaut had to enter “head first”. After 23 minutes and 41 seconds in space, Alexey Leonov returned to the airlock chamber and closed the hatch behind him. Despite the established rules, the cosmonaut opened the helmet of the spacesuit even before the airlock was filled with air to wipe his sweat-filled eyes.

In the airlock chamber, only one meter in diameter, the astronaut had to do a somersault in order to successfully return to the ship. Soon, according to the protocol, the airlock chamber was shot off. But due to temperature deformations, a gap was formed in the hatch, which led to depressurization. At this moment, the system has automatically increased the amount of oxygen supplied. The outcome of the situation could have been disastrous, since the increased amount of oxygen created a threat of explosion. However, while in a state of oxygen poisoning, Alexey Leonov accidentally changed the oxygen supply. Seven hours later, the astronauts fixed the leak and the percentage of oxygen on board the ship began to decrease.

Landing "Voskhod-2"

According to the established plan, the landing of the ship should have occurred automatically after the 17th orbit around the Earth, but the system failed, and after another orbit, crew commander Pavel Belyaev decided to take control of the ship until it completely lost its course.

Since the crew seats were turned 90 degrees relative to the control panel, Belyaev needed to unfasten from the seat. After adjusting the orientation and launching the spacecraft's braking propulsion system, the astronaut returned to his seat. All of the above actions took Pavel Ivanovich 22 seconds, which is why the ship landed 75 kilometers from the planned landing site.

On March 19, the cosmonauts found themselves in the snow-covered taiga, two hundred kilometers from Perm. Four hours after landing, the crew was discovered by rescuers. However, the cosmonauts’ mission did not end there and they spent two more days in the taiga to clear a place for the helicopter to land. Not far from the site there was a wooden house in which the astronauts spent the night, and from which they skied to the helicopter on the last day.

Soviet cosmonauts were two and a half months ahead of the United States, during which astronaut Edward White conducted a spacewalk.

Upon returning home, on March 23, Alexey Leonov was awarded the Gold Star medal of Hero of the USSR.

Second flight

On July 15, 1975, Alexey Arkhipovich began his second flight together with Valery Kubasov on board the Soyuz-19 spacecraft as part of the ASTP program - a joint experimental flight of Apollo (USA) and Soyuz (USSR). Two days later, the Apollo spacecraft began approaching the Soyuz spacecraft at a speed of about 0.25 m/s. The docking lasted three hours and at the end there was a handshake between the two commanders - the Soviet cosmonaut Leonov and the American Stafford. The astronauts made four transitions between the ships while they were in the docked state. Two days later, on July 19, the ships undocked, and on July 21, 1975, Alexei Leonov returned to Earth.

The next day, Alexey Arkhipovich, Major General of Aviation, was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR for the second time for outstanding services to world astronautics. In March 1976, Leonov became commander of the cosmonaut corps. In 1981, he completed his postgraduate studies at the AAIA Zhukovsky and became a candidate of technical sciences. He was dismissed from the detachment in 1982 due to his appointment as 1st deputy head of the Cosmonaut Training Center for space training; he worked at the Cosmonaut Training Center until 1991.

Future life

Since 1991, the man who was the first to go into space, Alexey Leonov, has been working in senior positions in various companies, including Chetek-Cosmos, Vostok-Capital and SladCo. Since 1997 - Vice President of Alfa Bank.

In addition to being a champion in outer space, Alexey Arkhipovich is the author of four inventions and 10 scientific papers.