First spacewalk. First man in outer space

One of the greatest events of the twentieth century - the first flight and exit of a man in outer space. The population of the planet learned from Gagarin that the Earth is round. Leonov became a pioneer. It turned out that the first people in space were from the USSR. March 18, 1965 from the board spaceship Voskhod 2 was the first spacewalk performed by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. This event was followed by the whole country. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was outside the Voskhod-2 spacecraft for only 12 minutes, but these minutes have gone down in the history of cosmonautics forever. You will learn about how the preparations for the first spacewalk took place, what difficulties the crew of the spacecraft experienced in this article.

Preparations for the first human spacewalk

The idea that a man could go into outer space was possible for Korolev as early as 1963. The designer suggested that soon such an experience would not only be desirable, but absolutely necessary. He turned out to be right. In the following decades, astronautics developed rapidly. For example, maintaining the normal operation of the ISS in general would be impossible without external installation and repair work, which once again proves how necessary the first manned spacewalk was. The year 1964 was the beginning of official preparations for this experiment. But then, in 1964, in order to implement such a daring project, it was necessary to seriously consider the design of the ship.

Voskhod-2 spacecraft

As a result, the well-proven Voskhod-1 was taken as the basis. One of its windows was replaced with an exit lock, and the crew was reduced from three to two. The lock chamber itself was inflatable and located outside the ship. After the completion of the experiment, before landing, she had to separate herself from the hull. This is how the Voskhod-2 spacecraft appeared.

suit

The created suit became a real miracle of technology. According to the firm conviction of its creators, it was a product more complicated than a car

Especially for Voskhod-2, special spacesuits were developed, which bore the formidable name Berkut. They had an additional sealed shell, and a satchel with a life support system was placed behind the cosmonaut's back. For better light reflection, even the color of the suits was changed: white was used instead of the traditional orange. The total weight of the Berkut was about 100 kg. the suits were very uncomfortable. They were so dense that in order to clench the hand into a fist, it was necessary to apply an effort of almost 25 kilograms. To be able to make any movement in such clothes, he had to constantly train. The work was worn out, but the astronauts stubbornly went to the cherished goal - to make it possible for a man to go into outer space. Leonov, by the way, was considered the strongest and most enduring in the group, which largely predetermined his main role in the experiment.

Later, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov recalled:

For example, to squeeze a hand in a glove, a force of 25 kg was needed.

The color of the suit has also changed. "Berkut", in order to better reflect the sun's rays, was made white, not orange. A special light filter appeared on his helmet, which was supposed to protect the astronaut's eyes from bright sunlight.

The crew of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft

It was not immediately decided on whom to entrust this responsible mission. Multiple psychological compatibility tests were carried out. After all, the crew must act as a single mechanism.
Belyaev is self-possessed and cool-headed and could quickly make decisions in non-standard situations. Leonov, his complete opposite, is hot and impetuous, but very brave and courageous. These two such different people made an excellent tandem for the experiment.
For 3 months, the cosmonauts got acquainted with the structure of the new spacecraft. The spacewalk training was carried out on board the Tu-104 aircraft, in which a full-size model of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was installed. Every day, Soviet cosmonauts ran cross-country skis or cross-country skis, intensively engaged in weightlifting and gymnastics.

Cosmonauts Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov

From the memoirs of Alexei Leonov about preparing for a spacewalk: “On Earth, we carried out tests in a pressure chamber with a vacuum corresponding to an altitude of 60 km ... In reality, when I went into space, it turned out a little differently. The pressure in the suit is about 600 mm, and outside - 10 - 9; it was impossible to simulate such conditions on Earth ... "

At that moment, when Alexei Leonov climbed out of his spaceship on March 18, 1965 and saw himself at an altitude of 500 kilometers above the surface of our planet, he did not feel movement at all. Although in fact he was rushing around the Earth at a speed that was many times higher than the speed of a jet aircraft. A panorama of our planet that no one had seen before opened before Alexei - like a giant canvas, which was saturated with contrasting textures and colors, alive and bright. Alexey Leonov will forever remain the first person who was able to see the Earth in all its splendor.

The Soviet cosmonaut at that moment simply took his breath away:

It's hard to even imagine what it was. Only in space can one feel the greatness and gigantic dimensions of the human environment - you will not feel this on Earth

In outer space, Alexei Leonov began to carry out the observations and experiments envisaged by the program. He made five exits and approaches from the lock chamber, with the very first withdrawal made at a minimum distance - one meter - for orientation in new conditions, and the rest for the full length of the halyard. All this time, the spacesuit was maintained at "room" temperature, and his outside surface warmed up in the sun to +60°C and cooled in the shade to -100°C. Pavel BELYAEV, using a camera and telemetry, monitored the work of the co-pilot in space and was ready, if necessary, to provide the necessary assistance to him.

At that moment, when Alexei Leonov saw the Yenisei and the Irtysh, he received a command from the commander of the ship Belyaev to return back. But Leonov did not manage to do this for a very long time. It turned out that his spacesuit in a vacuum was greatly swollen. So much so that the astronaut simply could not squeeze into the hatch of the airlock, and there was no time to consult with the Earth about this situation. Leonov made attempt after attempt, but they all ended in vain, and the supply of oxygen in the spacesuit was only enough for 20 minutes, which inexorably melted away (the astronaut spent 12 minutes in space). In the end, Alexei Leonov decided to simply relieve pressure in his spacesuit and, contrary to the instructions issued, instructing him to enter the airlock with his feet, he decided to "swim" into it face first. Fortunately, he succeeded. And although Leonov spent only 12 minutes in outer space, during this time he managed to get wet as if a whole tub of water had been poured on him - the physical load was so great.

Photo of the first human spacewalk

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Video

Video of the first human spacewalk with video footage inserts

Feature film "Time of the First"

The heroism of the crew members of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft inspired the creative team of Timur BEMKAMBETOV and Yevgeny MIRONOV to create a large-scale production film project, the heroic drama Time of the First, dedicated to one of the most risky expeditions into orbit and Alexei LEONOV's spacewalk

Documentary film by the Roscosmos television studio “Alexey Leonov. Jump into space"

The film is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the first cosmonaut who went into outer space.

Interesting facts about the first human spacewalk

• Critical situation during exit from orbit. The crew of Voskhod-2 could have been the first crew to die while returning from orbit. Refused before boarding automatic system orientation. Belyaev manually oriented the ship and turned on the brake engine. As a result, Voskhod landed in the taiga (180 km north of the city of Perm). In the TASS report, this was called "landing in the 'reserve area'", which in fact was the remote Permian taiga. After landing, the huge canopy of the parachute, stuck on two tall fir trees, fluttered in the wind. Soon an IL-14 was already circling above them. Radio contact was immediately established from the aircraft and the astronauts were informed that they had been found and help would be sent soon. The astronauts spent the night in the forest. Helicopters could only fly over them and report that “one is chopping wood, the other is putting it on the fire.” Warm clothes and food were dropped from helicopters to the cosmonauts, but Belyaev and Leonov could not be pulled out of the taiga. From the memoirs of Leonov: “When we landed, they didn’t find us right away ... We sat in spacesuits for two days, we didn’t have other clothes. On the third day we were pulled out of there. Because of the sweat, my suit was knee-deep in moisture, about 6 liters. So in the legs and bubbling. Then, already at night, I say to Pasha: "Well, that's it, I'm cold." We took off our suits, stripped naked, wrung out our underwear, put it back on. Then the screen-vacuum thermal insulation was sporulated. They threw away all the hard part, and put the rest on themselves. These are nine layers of aluminized foil, covered with dederon on top. Parachute lines were wrapped around the top like two sausages. And so they stayed there for the night. And at 12 noon a helicopter arrived and landed 9 km away. Another helicopter in a basket lowered Yura Lygin directly towards us. Then Slava Volkov (Vladislav Volkov, future cosmonaut of TsKBEM) and others came to us on skis. They brought us warm clothes, poured brandy, and we gave them our alcohol - and life became more fun. The fire was lit, the boiler was put on. We washed. In about two hours they cut down a small hut for us, where we spent the night normally. There was even a bed
• The day before the start there was a big trouble. Due to the negligence of a security guard, an inflatable airlock, hung out of the ship to check the tightness, unexpectedly fell and broke. There was no spare, and therefore it was decided to use the one on which the astronauts trained for a long time. This incident could have turned out to be fatal, but, fortunately, everything worked out, the reused airlock survived, and the first manned spacewalk successfully took place.

The dangers of spacewalks

Spacewalks are dangerous for many different reasons. The first is the possibility of a collision with space debris. The orbital speed at an altitude of 300 km above the Earth (typical flight altitude of manned spacecraft) is about 7.7 km/s. This is 10 times the speed of a bullet, so the kinetic energy of a small particle of paint or a grain of sand is equivalent to the same energy of a bullet with 100 times its mass. With each spaceflight, more and more orbital debris is introduced, which is why this problem continues to be the most dangerous.


A potential danger is the possibility of loss or unacceptable removal from the spacecraft, threatening death due to the exhaustion of the supply of breathing mixture. Also dangerous are possible damage or punctures of spacesuits, the depressurization of which threatens with anoxia and rapid death if the astronauts do not have time to return to the ship in time.

On October 20, 1965, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) marked the record for a man to stay in open space outside of a ship - 12 minutes and 9 seconds. Alexei Leonov received the highest FAI award - the gold medal "Cosmos" for the first spacewalk in the history of mankind. Crew commander Pavel Belyaev also received a medal and a diploma.

Leonov became the fifteenth person in space, and the first person to take the next fundamental step after Gagarin. To be alone with the abyss, the most hostile space for a person, to look at the stars only through the thin glass of a helmet, to hear the beating of your heart in absolute silence and come back is a real feat. A feat behind which stood thousands of scientists, engineers, workers and millions of ordinary people, but it was accomplished by one person - Alexei Leonov.

March 18, 1965 - was in orbit Voskhod-2 spacecraft launched with astronauts: Commander of the ship - Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev , pilot - Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov. During the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, an astronaut A.A. Leonov carried out the first manned spacewalk lasting 12 minutes.

The ship was equipped with an inflatable lock chamber "Volga". Before the launch, the chamber folded and measured 70 cm in diameter and 77 cm in length. In space, the chamber was inflated and had the following dimensions: 2.5 meters in length, inner diameter - 1 meter, outer - 1.2 meters. Camera weight - 250 kg. Before deorbiting, the camera fired back from the ship. A space suit was developed for spacewalking "Golden eagle" . He provided a stay in outer space for 30 minutes.The first exit took 23 minutes 41 seconds (outside ship 12 minutes 9 seconds) .

It's interesting that training before this flight was carried out on board the Tu-104AK aircraft, in which a full-size model of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was installed with a real lock chamber (it was she who flew into space later). During the flight of an aircraft along a parabolic trajectory, when weightlessness set in for several minutes, the cosmonauts practiced exit in a spacesuit through an airlock.

Voskhod-2 launched on March 18, 1965 at 10:00 Moscow time. The airlock was already inflated on the first turn. Both astronauts were in space suits. According to the program, Belyaev was supposed to help Leonov return to the ship in the event of an emergency.

The spacewalk began on the second orbit. Leonov moved into the lock chamber and Belyaev closed the hatch behind him. The air was then bled from the chamber and 11:32:54 Belyaev opened the outer hatch of the lock chamber from his remote control in the ship. AT 11:34:51 Alexei Leonov left the airlock and ended up in outer space. Leonov gently pushed off and felt the ship tremble from his push. The first thing he saw was the black sky. Belyaev's voice was immediately heard:

- "Diamond-2" began to exit. Movie camera on? - the commander addressed this question to his comrade.
- Understood. I am Almaz-2. I take off the lid. Throw away. Caucasus! Caucasus! I see the Caucasus below me! Began to withdraw (from the ship).
Before throwing the lid away, Leonov thought for a second whether to send it into satellite orbit or down to Earth. Thrown to the ground. The astronaut's pulse was 164 beats per minute, the moment of exit was very tense.
Belyaev transmitted to Earth:
-Attention! The man went into outer space!
The television image of Leonov soaring against the background of the Earth was broadcast on all television channels.

The total weight of the "exit suit" was close to 100 kg ... Five times the astronaut flew away from the ship and returned on a halyard, 5.35 m long ..
All this time, the “room” temperature was maintained in the spacesuit, and its outer surface was heated in the sun to +60°C and cooled in the shade to -100°C...

Flight "Vostok-2" went down in history twice.

In the first, official and open, it was said that everything went brilliantly.

TASS message dated March 18, 1965:
Today, March 18, 1965, at 11:30 Moscow time, during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, a man's exit into outer space was carried out for the first time. On the second circuit of the flight, co-pilot pilot-cosmonaut Lieutenant Colonel Leonov Alexei Arkhipovich, in a special spacesuit with an autonomous life support system, made an exit into outer space, retired from the ship at a distance of up to five meters, successfully carried out a set of planned studies and observations and safely returned to the ship. With the help of the onboard television system, the process of Comrade Leonov's exit into outer space, his work outside the spacecraft, and his return to the spacecraft were transmitted to Earth and observed by a network of ground stations. The state of health of Comrade Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov during his stay outside the ship and after returning to the ship is good. The commander of the ship, comrade Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev, is also feeling well.

In the second, which was gradually revealed and never published in detail, there are at least three emergency situations.
Leonov was observed on television and broadcast the image to Moscow. When leaving the ship for five meters, he waved his hand in
open space. Leonov was outside the airlock for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. But it turned out that getting out was easier than going back. The suit swelled in space and could not fit into the airlock. Leonov was forced to relieve pressure in order to “lose weight” and make him softer. Still, he had to climb back not with his feet, as was planned, but with his head. All the vicissitudes of what happened during the return to the ship, we found out only after the landing of the astronauts. A.A.Leonov's spacesuit, after being in space, lost its flexibility and did not allow the astronaut to enter the hatch. A.A. Leonov made attempt after attempt, but to no avail. The situation was complicated by the fact that the supply of oxygen in the spacesuit was designed for only twenty minutes, and each failure increased the degree of risk to the astronaut's life. Leonov limited the flow of oxygen, but from excitement and exertion, his pulse and breathing rate increased sharply, which means that more oxygen was required. S.P. Korolev tried to calm him down, instill confidence. On Earth, they heard the reports of A.A. Leonov:"I can't, I failed again."

According to the cyclogram, Aleksey had to swim into the chamber with his feet, then, having fully entered the airlock, close the hatch behind him and seal it. In reality, he had to bleed the air from the spacesuit almost to critical pressure. After several attempts, the astronaut decided
“float” into the cockpit facing forward. He succeeded, but at the same time he hit the glass of the helmet against its wall. It was scary - because the glass could burst. At 08:49 UTC the exit hatch of the airlock was closed and at 08:52 UTC pressurization of the airlock began.

After returning to the ship, the troubles continued. Second state of emergency It was incomprehensible pressure drop in the cabin pressurization cylinders from 75 to 25 atmospheres after Leonov's return. It was necessary to land no later than the 17th orbit, although Grigory Voronin, the chief designer of this part of the vital system, reassured that there would be enough oxygen for another day. Here is how Alexei Arkhipovich describes the events:

... the partial pressure of oxygen (in the cabin) began to grow, which reached 460 mm and continued to grow. This is at a rate of 160 mm! But after all, 460 mm is explosive gas, because Bondarenko burned out on this ... At first we sat in a daze. Everyone understood, but they could do almost nothing: they completely removed the humidity, removed the temperature (it became 10-12 °). And the pressure is growing ... The slightest spark - and everything would turn into a molecular state, and we understood this. Seven hours in this state, and then fell asleep ... apparently from stress. Then we figured out that I had touched the boost switch with a hose from the spacesuit ... What actually happened? Since the ship was stabilized relative to the Sun for a long time, then, naturally, a deformation arose; after all, on the one hand, cooling to -140 ° C, on the other, heating to + 150 ° C ... The sensors for closing the hatch worked, but a gap remained. The regeneration system began to build up pressure, and oxygen began to grow, 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 began to drop before our eyes.

Further more. TDU (brake propulsion system) did not work in automatic mode and the ship continued to fly. The crew was given the command to land the ship in manual mode on the 18th or 22nd orbit. Here is another quote from Leonov:

We went over Moscow, inclination 65°. We had to land exactly on this turn, and we ourselves chose the area for landing - 150 km from Solikamsk with a heading angle of 270 °, because there was taiga. No businesses, no power lines. They could land in Kharkov, in Kazan, in Moscow, but it was dangerous. The version that we got there due to imbalance is complete nonsense. We ourselves chose the landing site, as it was safer and possible deviations in the engine operation shifted the landing point also to safe areas. Only it was impossible to land in China - then relations were very tense. As a result, at a speed of 28,000 km / h, we sat down only 80 km from our calculated point. This is a good result. And then there were no reserve landing sites. And we weren't expected...

Finally, a report came in from a search helicopter. He discovered a red parachute and two astronauts 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Bereznyaki. The dense forest and deep snow made it impossible for helicopters to land near the astronauts. There were no settlements nearby either. Landing in the deep taiga was the last emergency in the history of Voskhod-2. The cosmonauts spent the night in the forest of the Northern Urals. Helicopters could only fly over them and report that “one is chopping wood, the other is putting it on the fire.”
Warm clothes and food were dropped from helicopters to the cosmonauts, but Belyaev and Leonov could not be pulled out of the taiga. A group of skiers with a doctor, who landed one and a half kilometers away, reached them through the snow in four hours, but did not dare to take them out of the taiga. A real competition unfolded for the salvation of the astronauts.
The landfill service, encouraged by Tyulin and Korolev, sent its rescue expedition to Perm, led by Lieutenant Colonel Belyaev and the foreman of our plant, Lygin. From Perm, they got by helicopter to a site two kilometers from Voskhod-2 and soon hugged the astronauts. Marshal Rudenko forbade his rescue service to evacuate astronauts from the ground to a hovering helicopter. They stayed in the taiga for a second cold night, although now they had a tent, warm fur uniforms and plenty of food. It came to Brezhnev. He was convinced that lifting astronauts into a helicopter hovering near the ground was a dangerous business.

Brezhnev agreed and approved a proposal to cut down trees nearby to prepare a landing site. When we landed, we were not immediately found ... We sat in spacesuits for two days, we had no other clothes. On the third day we were pulled out of there. Because of the sweat, my suit was knee-deep in moisture, about 6 liters. So in the legs and bubbling. Then, already at night, I say to Pasha: "Well, that's it, I'm cold." We took off our suits, stripped naked, wrung out our underwear, put it back on. Then the screen-vacuum thermal insulation was sporulated. They threw away all the hard part, and put the rest on themselves. These are nine layers of aluminized foil, covered with dederon on top. Parachute lines were wrapped around the top like two sausages. And so they stayed there for the night. And at 12 noon a helicopter arrived and landed 9 km away. Another helicopter in a basket lowered Yura Lygin directly towards us. Then Slava Volkov (Vladislav Volkov, future cosmonaut of TsKBEM) and others came to us on skis.
They brought us warm clothes, poured brandy, and we gave them our alcohol - and life became more fun. The fire was lit, the boiler was put on. We washed. In about two hours they cut down a small hut for us, where we spent the night normally. There was even a bed. On March 21, a helicopter landing site was prepared. And on the same day, on board the Mi-4, the cosmonauts arrived in Perm, from where they made an official report on the completion of the flight. And yet, despite all the problems that arose during the flight, it was the first, very first exit of man into outer space. Here is how Alexey Leonov describes his impressions:

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 pure darkness with the dazzling radiance of the stars, simply struck and fascinated me. To complete the picture, imagine - against this background, I see our Soviet ship, illuminated by the bright light of the sun's rays. When I was leaving the gateway, I felt a powerful stream of light and heat, reminiscent of electric welding. Above me was a black sky and bright, unblinking stars. The sun seemed to me like a red-hot fiery disk ...

“When flying in space, it is impossible not to go into space ... An astronaut must be able to carry out the necessary repair and production work in interstellar space ... This is not a fantasy - this is a necessity. The more humanity goes into space, the more this need will be felt.”

These words, spoken at the very beginning of the space age by Korolev, became truly prophetic. In less than fifty years of "extravehicular activity", dozens of people have been in outer space, and the duration of a person's stay in one exit has increased from several minutes to several hours. The creation and maintenance of the ISS in general would be impossible without long-term spacewalks and a gigantic amount of repair and installation operations. However, the first step on this path was taken on March 18, 1965. It was on this day that the Soviet pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov was the first of earthlings to leave the spacecraft. He stayed in space for only 12 minutes 9 seconds, but in the matter of mastering the Universe, this event rightfully took second place after the legendary flight of Gagarin.

Alexey Arkhipovich was born on May 30, 1934 in a small village called Listvyanka, located six hundred kilometers north of the city of Kemerovo. His grandfather lived in this place for a long time, exiled by the tsarist government after the revolution of 1905, Alexei's parents came here from the Donbass - first his mother, and after the Civil War ended, father - Leonov Arkhip Alekseevich. Mother, Evdokia Minaevna, worked as a village teacher, father, a Donetsk miner in the past, got a job as chairman of the village council. Alexei was their ninth child.

In 1936, a denunciation was written against Arkhip Alekseevich. Under the article “enemy of the people”, without trial or investigation, he was sent to a Siberian camp, and his mother with eight children (one of Leonov’s sisters, Vera, died in infancy) and the ninth in position were expelled from home with confiscation of all property. The children were also expelled from school. The future cosmonaut said: “At that time, my older sister lived in Kemerovo and worked on the construction of a thermal power plant. There she married a boy from Mogilev - he also worked at a construction site and studied at a technical school. They had a room in the barracks. In a thirty-degree frost, my sister's husband came for us in a sledge, spread out a sheepskin coat, put eight of us and covered it with a sheepskin coat from above .... So we found ourselves in the Kemerovo barracks - eleven people in a sixteen-meter room. The guy was 22 years old - a simple worker, a student, he sheltered the family of an enemy of the people. Well, what courage it was necessary to have ... ". In 1939, Arkhip Alekseevich was rehabilitated and returned home. The Leonov family slowly began to rise to its feet. And soon a decree was issued to support mothers of large families. All in the same barracks they were given two rooms - sixteen and eighteen square meters.

In 1943, Alexei Arkhipovich went to primary school No. 35. Among the main hobbies of young Alexei at that time was the painting of old Russian stoves, which he learned from immigrants from Ukraine who lived in the neighborhood. Once, while already at school, Leonov saw a book with black-and-white illustrations of Aivazovsky's paintings from his classmate and was eager to purchase it. It cost him very dearly - in payment, Alexei had to give 50 grams of bread and a piece of sugar given to him every day at school for a month. Since then, Aivazovsky has become his favorite artist.

In 1947, the Leonov family moved to a new place - to the city of Kaliningrad. Here Alexei graduated in 1953 high school No. 21, having received his matriculation certificate. By that time, he was already very fond of flying, knew famous aviators by heart, reviewed all the films about pilots, and independently made aircraft models. According to the notes of his older brother Peter, who was an aviation technician, Alexei Arkhipovich studied the basics of flight theory, aircraft engines and aircraft designs with enviable persistence. Combined with outstanding sports achievements this was the key that opened the doors of the flight school for the guy. In August 1953, Leonov was enrolled in the tenth Military Aviation School for Initial Pilot Training, located in the city of Kremenchug (Poltava Region), which he successfully completed in 1955. In connection with the displayed outstanding abilities, he was sent to Ukraine in the city of Chuguev to the Higher Military School of Fighter Pilots. And from 1957 to 1959, Alexey served in the 69th Air Army tenth guards division located on the territory of Ukraine.

At the end of the summer of 1959, Colonel Karpov, the future head of the Cosmonaut Training Center, arrived in Leonov's division. He invited several pilots to talk to him, including Alexei Arkhipovich. By the way, the day before, the aviator had a serious accident that happened due to the failure of the hydraulic system of the MiG-15bis fighter. Oil flooded the alternator, and the entire group of navigational instruments turned off. With difficulty finding his bearings, Leonov immediately sent the plane to the airfield. When he had already passed the long-range drive, the "Fire" indicator lit up and the siren started working. Leonov knew that in such a situation it was necessary to eject, but at an altitude of two hundred meters it was pure suicide. The pilot was landing, well aware that an explosion could occur at any moment. On the near drive, he cut off the fuel supply and sat down with the engine turned off. Aleksey Arkhipovich did not reach the runway about three hundred meters, but he taxied onto it and stopped. As a result, the aircraft did not receive any damage, and, as it turned out, there was no fire at all - the indication worked because the oil was sucked into the compressor.

At the meeting, Colonel Karpov, without explaining his intentions, inquired about Leonov's health and his plans for the future. Alexey Arkhipovich noted that he is completely healthy and thinks to continue flying. Then the colonel invited him to enter the school of test pilots. The call came on October 2, 1959, and two days later Leonov had already arrived in Sokolniki at the Aviation Hospital (TsVNIAG) for a medical examination. There he first saw Yuri Gagarin: “I went into the ward and found that I was not alone - a man of my age was sitting on a stool, naked to the waist, and reading. What struck me most was that he was reading… Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. In 1959, even among the reader's elite, few people knew about this writer, but here the pilot .... He looked at me with big smiling blue eyes and introduced himself: "Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin." After a short time, the pilots became close friends. Already after the death of the first cosmonaut, Leonov said: “He did not stand out in any way, but it was still impossible to pass him by - you get up and look. Ordinary speech, classical Russian, understandable and memorable. Only later did I realize what an extraordinary person he was - he grasped everything on the fly, had an amazing system analysis, was obligatory, hardworking, devoted to friendship ... ".

Numerous, often exhausting examinations were carried out in the hospital above Leonov. Alexey Arkhipovich said: “From my point of view, a lot of stupid things were made during the examination. Among the doctors were people involved in scientific work and taking astronauts as material for their dissertations. Because of all the nonsense, which was then canceled, we lost a lot of talented guys .... If we apply the old medical requirements to the latest recruitment into the cosmonaut corps, then probably not a single person would have passed .... After I became the leader, I reviewed a lot with the same doctors, relaxed the requirements.

Despite everything, in 1960 Leonov was accepted into the first cosmonaut corps. Months of hard training dragged on in order to prepare for the upcoming flights, during which the participants continued to be subjected to various medical experiments, often unnecessarily cruel: “Maneuvers in the centrifuge were accompanied by very high Gs, reaching 14g. It's a crazy load. There were hemorrhages on the back after such trainings, there were hemorrhages both inside and on the soft tissues. In general, all this did not add health. During one of these tests, Alexei Arkhipovich was placed in a depressurization chamber for fifteen days. Sensors were glued to his body with the help of an unknown paste for electrical conductivity. Further, in the words of the astronaut: “I wake up on the tenth day and see that the whole sheet is covered in blood. I look, and a couple of sensors fell off and with them rags of my skin. There was no epidermis left in the places where they were glued - only muscles twitching in the rhythm of the heartbeat. These places healed for two months. I cut off the rest of the zinc sensors and put them on a shelf so that after the experience I could show who needed it .... But on the thirteenth day, oxygen began to run out, the experiment was stopped, and I was taken out of there. When I returned to the cell for the sensors, they were no longer there…. There was no physical evidence. The same public later burned Bondarenko…”.

Another incident occurred during the casting of the lodgment of the astronaut's chair. During this operation, Leonov had to lie naked in a trough, which was then filled with liquid plaster with a temperature of about 10 degrees. He lay in this icy sour cream, which gradually hardened and heated up. The most important thing was not to miss the moment when the plaster began to harden. And it was with him that this moment was missed: “And they began to pick me out. And here every hair is an anchor. It doesn’t work out at all, then they rushed - and pieces of skin remained in pieces of gypsum along with hair. ”

In 1963, after six single-seat spacecraft of the Vostok type (including Vostok 6 with Valentina Tereshkova) had orbited the planet, the design bureau, headed by Korolev, began designing a new spacecraft of the same series, but designed for three seats. Simultaneously with the preparation of the flight (which was successfully completed in October 1964 by Komarov, Feoktistov and Egorov), based on new design"Sunrise" it was decided to create a two-seater ship that allows a person to go into an airless space. The place vacated after the dismantling of the third chair was used as a platform for putting on a spacesuit, as well as an entrance to the airlock.

By the way, initially it was supposed to conduct experiments with animals. After the depressurization of the box, the beast in it and dressed in a spacesuit had to make an independent exit (or it was intended to move it out) from the spacecraft with a mandatory subsequent return for research. However, this step was abandoned. First, there were issues of developing a special space suit for the animal. Secondly, such an experiment did not answer the main question: is it a person who is able to move and navigate in such an unusual environment.

As a result of consideration of various technical solutions, the choice was given to the use of a lock chamber, which is a small space isolated from all sides. The astronaut, dressed in a spacesuit, was supposed to be in it until all the air surrounding him was released. After that, he will be able to open the hatch leading outside. The return to the ship took place in the reverse order - the lock chamber, closed from the outside and from the inside, was gradually filled with air, after which the inner hatch opened, and the astronaut got into the cabin of the ship. The lock chamber itself was inflatable, located outside the body of the aircraft. During entry into orbit, it was placed under the fairing in a folded form, and before descending to Earth, its main part was shot back, and the spacecraft reached the dense layers of the atmosphere in its usual form, except for a small build-up in the area of ​​​​the entrance hatch. The tests carried out showed that the ballistics of the compartment was not affected.

In parallel with the changes to the Voskhod spacecraft, two crews of cosmonauts were preparing for the flight: Pavel Belyaev with Alexei Leonov and their backups, Viktor Gorbatko and Yevgeny Khrunov. It is curious that when selecting the crew, not only the tasks and goals of the flight, its complexity and duration, but also the psychological, individual characteristics of the astronauts, presented by psychologists, were taken into account. The crew of the Voskhod 2 spacecraft had special requirements in terms of coherence and harmony. It was assumed that such difficult task, as an exit from the cabin of the ship into outer space through an airlock, could only be solved with complete trust, mutual understanding and faith in each other. In accordance with the research of psychologists, Belyaev was characterized as a strong-willed and self-possessed person who did not panic even in the most difficult situations, showing great perseverance and logical thinking in achieving his goals. Leonov, in turn, belonged to the choleric type, was impulsive, bold, resolute, and easily developed vigorous activity. In addition, his artistic gift was noted, the ability to quickly memorize the pictures presented to his gaze, and then reproduce them very accurately. These two people, having different tempers, perfectly complemented each other, creating, according to psychologists, a “highly compatible group” capable of successfully completing the task assigned to them and compiling a detailed account of all the problems and surprises associated with being in space.

To go into space, a special spacesuit was also created, called the Berkut. Unlike the spacesuits used on the Vostoks, it had an additional hermetic shell that increased overall reliability. Being, in fact, a thermos, it consisted of layers of plastic film coated with aluminum. The top overalls were sewn from multi-layered metallized fabric. The suit became much heavier - the life support system placed in the back pack and including a ventilation system and two two-liter oxygen cylinders added weight. In addition, a reserve oxygen system was installed in the airlock, just in case, connected with a hose to the spacesuit. The color of the suit has also changed - for a better reflection of the sun's rays. Orange color changed to white, and a light filter was installed on the helmet. Alexei Arkhipovich recalled: “In December 1963, we visited the Korolev Experimental Design Bureau. Sergei Pavlovich met us, led us to the workshop and showed us a model of Voskhod, equipped with some kind of unusual camera. Seeing our surprise, he explained that this was a gateway for access to outer space. Then Sergei Pavlovich asked me to put on a new spacesuit and try to perform a series of experiments. After two hours of work, during which I had to work hard, I again met with Korolev. I remember telling him that the task can be completed, you just need to think everything through well.

The total weight of the “exit suit” was about 100 kilograms, but in zero gravity this did not play a significant role. Problems were created by the pressure of the air, which filled the hermetic shell and made the suit unyielding and rigid. The astronauts had to overcome the resistance of their vestments with great effort. Aleksey Arkhipovich recalled: “Only to squeeze a hand in a glove, it was necessary to apply an effort of 25 kilograms.” In this regard, during the entire preparation for the flight, special importance was attached to physical fitness - the cosmonauts performed daily jogging, intensively engaged in weightlifting and gymnastics. In addition, the complex of trainings for more perfect control of one's body included jumping into the water, classes on a trampoline, parachute descents, and exercises on the rotating "Zhukovsky bench". Conditions for short-term real weightlessness were also created for the astronauts - in an airplane flying along a special trajectory. Leonov said: “In the huge cabin of the TU-104, a mock-up of the Voskhod 2 cockpit was mounted, which has a full-size airlock. The plane dived down, accelerated and went up steeply, performing a “slide”, during which weightlessness set in. Its “quality” depended entirely on the skill of the pilots, who, relying only on the data of their vestibular apparatus, made the plane fly exactly in a parabola. With each such maneuver, weightlessness lasted a little more than twenty seconds. For an hour and a half of flight, five such "slides" were made, gaining a total of two minutes of weightlessness .... Many times we took to the air, step by step in these short periods of time, honing all the details of entering the cabin of the ship and exiting the airlock.

Interestingly, in those years there were many scientific theories about human behavior in outer space. Some experts quite seriously argued that the astronaut would inevitably "weld" to the spacecraft. Such fears were based on cold welding experiments carried out in vacuum. Other scientific luminaries believed that a person, having lost his usual support, would not be able to make a single movement overboard the ship. Still others believed that the boundless space would have an extremely negative impact on the psyche of the astronaut .... In fact, no one, including the Chief Designer, knew exactly how the cosmos would meet a person. The daredevils, who dared to leave the cozy surface of the earth, could only rely on themselves and the equipment that flew away with them. There were no rescue systems yet - it was impossible to dock or get out of one ship and through the airless space to go to another. Korolev told the astronauts: "It will be difficult - make your own decision depending on the situation." The crew, as a last resort, were allowed to limit themselves to opening the hatch and putting their hands overboard.

On March 18, 1965, after a three-year preparation, the Voskhod 2 spacecraft with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev successfully launched from Baikonur. After entering orbit, already at the end of the first orbit, Alexei Arkhipovich began to prepare for a spacewalk. Belyaev helped him with a life-support system pack and then filled the airlock with air. When Leonov moved into the lock chamber, Pavel Ivanovich closed the hatch behind him and depressurized the chamber. There was only one last step... Gently pushing off, Alexei Leonov "floated" out of the airlock. Once in space, he carefully moved his legs and arms - the movements were performed easily, and then, spreading his arms to the sides, he began to soar in an airless space, connected to the ship by a five-meter halyard. During the flight over the Volga, Pavel Ivanovich connected the phone in the cosmonaut's space suit to the broadcast of Moscow radio - at this time Levitan read out the TASS message about the first manned spacewalk. From the ship, Leonov was monitored by a pair of television cameras, in addition, he himself filmed using a portable camera. Based on these materials, a film has already been mounted on Earth. The astronaut also had at his disposal a miniature camera of the Ajax series, capable of taking pictures through a button. It was provided to the crew of the Voskhod 2 ship with the permission of the KGB chairman. This camera was controlled remotely using a cable, however, due to the resulting deformations of the suit, Leonov could not reach it.

Five times Alexei Arkhipovich flew off and returned to the ship. All this time, the spacesuit was maintained at “room” temperature, and this despite the fact that its outer surface in the shade was cooled to -100 ° C, and warmed up to + 60 ° C in the sun. When Alexei Arkhipovich saw the Yenisei and the Irtysh, Belyaev gave the command to return. However, it turned out to be not so easy to do this - in a vacuum, the astronaut's spacesuit swelled up. He himself described what happened as follows: “The pressure in the spacesuit reached 600 mm, outside 10. It was impossible to simulate such conditions on Earth. Neither the dense fabric nor the stiffening ribs could withstand - the spacesuit was so swollen that the legs came out of the boots, and the hands - out of the gloves. Of course, we assumed that this would happen, but we did not think that it would be so much. A critical situation arose: Leonov, in this state, could not get into the airlock hatch, and there was no time left for talking with the Earth - the oxygen supply was calculated for 20 minutes. Belyaev was aware of everything, but could not help in any way. And then Alexei Arkhipovich, violating all the instructions, independently relieved pressure in the spacesuit and "floated" into the airlock with his face (and not his feet, as expected) forward.

Unfortunately, the emergencies didn't end there. After the astronaut returned to the ship, despite the fact that the closing sensors had worked, the hatch cover was not closed tightly enough. Due to the constant etching of air from the ship, the regeneration system, working out its program, began to build up pressure. Soon the oxygen level in the cabin rose above the critical level. The astronauts did everything that depended on them - they removed the humidity, lowered the temperature to 10 ° C, but they could not determine the cause of the malfunction and earned oxygen poisoning. When the total pressure reached the mark of 920 mm, the hatch fell into place. Shortly thereafter, the oxygen pressure in the ship's cabin returned to normal.

According to the plan, the descent of Voskhod 2 was supposed to be carried out in automatic mode, but before that it was necessary to disconnect the airlock chamber. Buckling up, Leonov and Belyaev took the necessary steps, however swipe at the moment of shooting, he spun the spacecraft in two planes. This, in turn, led to off-design angular accelerations and failure of the attitude control and auto-stabilization systems. At that moment, Voskhod 2 was over Australia, and the astronauts had no connection with the Center. After consulting, they decided to turn off the self-timer system and land the ship in manual mode. Up to this point, no one has ever landed in manual mode. After the astronauts began to perform orientation, communication was restored, and the crew requested permission to land in manual mode. Gagarin himself answered them after some time, saying that permission had been given. It is curious that the sight, through which orientation could be carried out, was at an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the seated astronauts, forcing them to control the spacecraft by turning sideways. One of the cosmonauts, in violation of all instructions, had to untie himself, get out of his chair, lie across the cabin and, looking out the window, explain to another the position of the Earth.

In the end, the ship "Voskhod 2" successfully landed two hundred kilometers north of Perm. In a TASS report, this was called a landing in a "reserve area", which was in fact a remote taiga. Leonov said: “Why did we find ourselves not in calculated point? We ourselves determined the landing site for security reasons, all possible deviations shifted the point to safe areas. As a result, at a speed of 28 thousand kilometers per hour, we landed only 80 kilometers from our own designated place. I think it's a good result." The cosmonauts were not found immediately, because as such, there was no search service in those years. Helicopters were unable to land due to tall trees, they also failed to throw off warm clothes. The cosmonauts spent the night alone in a wild snow-covered forest: “We took out spacesuits and ripped off the screen-vacuum thermal insulation. The hard part was thrown away, and the remaining, nine layers of dederon-coated aluminized foil, were put on. From above, like two sausages, they wrapped themselves with parachute lines. And so they sat the whole first night. The next day, not far from the landing site, a landing force of rescuers on skis descended into the undergrowth. They made their way to the astronauts through deep snow and cut down the forest for a helicopter landing site. Only on the third day, Leonov and Belyaev were taken to Baikonur.

The chief designer gave an assessment of the feat accomplished by the cosmonauts: “The crew of Voskhod 2 was given a very difficult task, completely different from that in previous flights. The future of astronautics depended on its successful implementation. The flight showed that people can leave the ship and live in free space, work as it is necessary ... ". Alexey Arkhipovich delivered a report at the state commission, which became the shortest in the history of astronautics: "One can live and work in outer space."

In domestic practice, the Voskhod 2 flight is rightfully considered one of the most stressful. At the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the spacewalk, the outstanding designer and colleague of Korolev Boris Chertok said to Leonov: “You miraculously survived! It was all so "damp", so incomprehensible .... After the start, Korolev walked and repeated: “Where did I send them!”. So, congratulations!” By the way, the Americans also planned the exit of man into outer space and intended to be the first to do this. The US government regarded the exit of the Soviet cosmonaut into space as another challenge and intensified all its efforts. NASA released information about the upcoming flight on May 25, 1965, and already on June 3, Gemini 4 launched with astronauts White and McDivitt on board. There was no lock chamber on the American apparatus, before opening the access hatch, the astronauts had to pump out all the air from the cabin. White "floated" into outer space, and McDivitt filmed him with a movie camera. A halyard seven and a half meters long was connected to the American ship, oxygen was supplied through it for breathing.

From 1965 to 1967, Alexei Arkhipovich was the deputy commander of the cosmonaut detachment, and from 1967 to 1970 he was a member of the group preparing for the program of flying around the moon (Proton-Zond) and landing on the Earth satellite (N1-L3). The date of the Zond 7 flight was already set for December 8, 1968, but in the end it was canceled due to the undeveloped carrier and ship. As a result, priority remained with the Americans, who made a similar flight on December 21-27, 1968. Later, Alexei Arkhipovich was one of two candidates for participation in the program to land a Soviet cosmonaut on the surface of the moon, which was also canceled. During the period from 1971 to 1973, Leonov was trained five times as a crew commander for space flights under various programs, but for reasons beyond his control, all of them were canceled.

In 1969, Alexei Arkhipovich unexpectedly became an unwitting witness to the assassination attempt on Leonid Brezhnev. On January 22, Moscow welcomed the crew members of the Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 spacecraft, which had returned from orbit just a few days earlier. The car, in which cosmonauts Leonov, Nikolaev, Beregovoy and Tereshkova were sitting, was fired upon on the way from the airport to the Kremlin by junior lieutenant Viktor Ilyin, who decided that the General Secretary was in their car. Fortunately, Aleksei Arkhipovich was not hurt, although Georgy Beregovoy had his face cut into pieces of glass, and Andrian Nikolaev was wounded in the back.

At the end of 1972, the superpowers of the USSR and the USA decided to carry out a joint space flight and, during it, dock the ships of the two different countries. Each side determined the criteria for selecting astronauts independently, however necessary conditions were: the highest professional qualifications, deep knowledge in the field of technology, the ability to work with the equipment and systems of both ships, excellent knowledge of the language of the partner country and the readiness to conduct an extensive program of scientific observations and experiments. The Soviet Union was represented by Leonov (crew commander) and Kubasov, the USA by Stafford, Brand and Slayton. Aleksey Arkhipovich recalled: “The flight under the ASTP program was extremely politicized. It all started with a terrible mistrust. The US Program Manager was David Scott. He only told everyone how bad things were for us. Once I took him to “talk”: “Dear David, you know that we are doing the will of our peoples. We have been entrusted with such a difficult task, and we must do our best. No need to look for what and who is bad. I can also tell you what's wrong with you." The next time we met, Scott was gone and Cernan became the program manager." In July 1975, a joint flight under the ASTP program was successfully carried out, opening a new era in space exploration. For the first time in history, the docking of the Soviet Soyuz 19 and the American Apollo took place, and many biomedical, astrophysical, geophysical and technological experiments were carried out.

Major General Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov retired in March 1992. Until 2000, he worked as president of the Alfa Capital investment fund, and then moved to the position of vice president of Alfa Bank. Now legendary astronaut lives in country house near Moscow, which he himself designed and built.

During his long and eventful career, Alexey Arkhipovich took part in many international congresses and scientific conferences, made about thirty reports, and wrote several books. He owns four inventions and over a dozen scientific papers in the field of astronautics. Leonov twice Hero Soviet Union and the owner of many orders and medals, an honorary citizen of more than thirty cities of the world. For over two decades Aleksey Arkhipovich has been collaborating with the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation, handing over from his personal collection unique documents on the joint training of Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts, as well as many amateur films about Russian space explorers.

Alexey Arkhipovich met his future wife, Svetlana Pavlovna Dotsenko, while still studying at the aviation school. Subsequently, they had two girls - Oksana and Victoria. Leonov's favorite hobby all his life was and remains painting, which the astronaut became interested in in his youth. Leonov is the author of over two hundred paintings and five art albums, among which cosmic landscapes predominate, but there are also earthly landscapes, as well as portraits of friends. The astronaut prefers to work in watercolor, Dutch gouache and oil. Leonov also collected a large art library, including many rare books, he visited all the largest foreign art galleries and museums, and was personally acquainted with Picasso. In 1965, Alexei Arkhipovich was elected a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Among his other hobbies are reading books, hunting, photography and filming. Leonov - the owner of the second category in cycling and the third category in fencing, professionally engaged in javelin throwing and athletics.

Alexey Arkhipovich ends his book “Going into space” with the following words: “Going into space is one of the most difficult operations in orbit, requiring great skill, careful preparation and great courage. I watch current cosmonauts on television, listen to their reports to Earth, and every time I relive my flight. I envy them and wish them well from the bottom of my heart.”

Based on materials from the site http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/ and from an interview with an astronaut at http://www.pravoslavie.ru/ and http://88.210.62.157/content/numbers/237/40.shtml

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The problems that arose during the legendary flight of Alexei Leonov were not covered in Soviet times

The problems that arose during the legendary flight of Alexei Leonov were not covered in Soviet times.

Released shortly before Cosmonautics Day, the film "Time of the First" with Evgeny Mironov starring quickly became the leader of the box office. Still, the filmmakers have chosen a win-win theme - a dramatic and heroic story of the first human spacewalk. Then, in March 1965, Alexei Leonov, upon returning to Earth, reported that the flight had been successful. However, more than fifty years later, it can be recognized that the Soviet cosmonaut had every chance of literally burning out in the race with the Americans, there were so many failures and dangers.

In the womb of the universe

Initially, it was assumed that Alexei Leonov would go into orbit and make the first spacewalk in the history of mankind as part of the Vostok-11 mission, on the same ship that flew Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova and German Titov. However, preparations were delayed. The fateful launch took place a year and a half after the planned date, on March 18, 1965. Leonov's partner and commander of the ship was Pavel Belyaev.

On the ship "Voskhod", which replaced the "Vostok", a cylindrical lock chamber was installed. Three isolated inflatable sections should have served their purpose, even if two of them failed. The Berkut suit weighing 20 kg and the satchel weighing 21 kg that came with it were supposed to ensure the normal functioning of the astronaut in outer space. There were two spacesuits on the ship, so that the commander, if necessary, could provide assistance to those who went into outer space. It was also assumed that if the airlock did not fire off automatically before returning to Earth, the astronauts in spacesuits would lean out into the hatch and cut it off by hand.

Alexei Leonov swam into the lock chamber when the ship was on its second orbit. Step overboard "Sunrise" occurred at 11 hours 34 minutes 51 seconds. It was connected to the ship by an "umbilical cord" about 5.5 meters long. In 23 minutes, the cosmonaut departed from the hatch five times and returned to it, doing observations and experiments, while Belyaev followed his partner with the help of a television camera and telemetry equipment.

seven sweats

Training in the pressure chamber on Earth was successful, but in orbit design flaws made themselves felt. Due to the difference in pressure, the spacesuit was greatly swollen and did not allow normal movement. The astronaut decided to contact the Mission Control Center and request instructions, but he thought that at that moment he was the only person on Earth who had ever encountered such a problem, and he would have to solve it on his own. To return to the gateway, Alexei Leonov, with jeweler caution, bled the pressure to the emergency level and literally squeezed through the hatch.

Another problem was the inability to bend the legs without support and get into the edge of the hatch. Because of this, contrary to instructions, Leonov squeezed into the airlock not with his feet, but with his head forward. Inside, he had to turn around, as the inner hatch cover opened inward and "ate" a third of the volume.

BY THE WAY:On the set of the film "The Time of the First", accurate models of the spacecraft were built, on which the historic flight was made. The lead actor Evgeny Mironov, who was advised by Alexei Leonov, decided to repeat his trick and turn around in a cylindrical airlock with a diameter of one meter, being dressed in a spacesuit with a shoulder width of 68 cm. No matter how hard the actor tried, but, unlike his hero, somersault he failed.

Once in the compartment, the astronaut again violated the instructions by opening the helmet before the tightness test was completed. Leonov did this because sweat filled his eyes. The fact is that the designers placed a light filter on inside helmet, and it got very hot. Now such protective filters are installed only on the outside.

The flight ended on skis

Only the adrenaline in the blood burned out, as new emergency situations arose. When returning to Earth, the solar orientation system did not work, and the braking propulsion system did not turn on. The landing was supposed to start automatically on the 17th orbit, but the program failed. Leonov and Belyaev had to go to the eighteenth orbit and take the "Sunrise" for landing in manual mode. Then it turned out that it was impossible for the cosmonauts strapped into the seat to look into the porthole and orient themselves in position to the Earth. This resulted in a loss of accuracy.

During the descent, the astronauts had to experience an overload of 10G, and this is the limit of human capabilities. The fact is that the orbital module did not separate from the landing module during descent, as intended. The capsule with Belyaev and Leonov began to spin wildly. It was possible to stabilize its movement only after the cable connecting the modules burned out.

All the troubles led to the fact that the landing took place far from the calculated place - in a dense forest almost 200 kilometers north of Perm. The cosmonauts spent the night in the taiga at 30-degree frost, warming themselves by the fire. When they were discovered, the rescuers landed in the undergrowth a few kilometers from the crew and cleared the landing area. Leonov and Belyaev had to ski to get to the helicopter. On March 21, they arrived in Perm and officially reported on the completion of the flight.

BY THE WAY:In May 2017, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexei Leonov will turn 83 years old. He devotes a lot of time to drawing, creating portraits of his colleagues and landscapes. Recently, his unique work, a drawing created aboard the Voskhod spacecraft, became the center of an exhibition at the Science Museum in London, along with hundreds of artefacts dedicated to astronautics.

Former partner of Leonov, hero of the Great Patriotic War and a participant in the war with Japan, Pavel Belyaev, after returning to Earth, continued to prepare for new space flights. He was going to participate in the flyby of the moon, but was suspended for health reasons and became a senior instructor in the cosmonaut corps. He died in 1970 after a long illness.

Spacewalks can be performed in different ways. In the first case, the astronaut is connected to the spacecraft with a special safety tether, sometimes combined with an oxygen supply hose (in this case it is called the “umbilical cord”), while simply the astronaut’s muscular efforts are enough to return to the spacecraft. Another option is a fully autonomous flight in outer space. In this case, it is necessary to ensure the possibility of returning to the spacecraft using a special technical system.

The first spacewalk was performed by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965 from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft using a flexible airlock. The Berkut spacesuit used for the first spacewalk was of a ventilation type and consumed about 30 liters of oxygen per minute with a total supply of 1666 liters, designed for 30 minutes of the astronaut's stay in outer space. Due to the pressure difference, the spacesuit swelled and greatly interfered with the cosmonaut's movements, which, in particular, made it very difficult for Leonov to return to Voskhod-2. The total time of the first exit was 23 minutes 41 seconds (of which 12 minutes 9 seconds were outside the ship), and based on its results, a conclusion was made about the ability of a person to perform various works in open space.
Some time after the spacewalk of our cosmonaut Leonov, the same experiment was repeated by the Americans. On June 3, 1965, American astronauts James McDivatt and Edward White, who launched on the Gemini IV spacecraft, opened the hatch and White went into space.

First spacewalk by an American astronaut (Edward White, June 3, 1965)

Spacewalks are dangerous for many different reasons. The first is the possibility of a collision with space debris. The orbital speed at an altitude of 300 km above the Earth (typical flight altitude of manned spacecraft) is about 7.7 km/s. This is 10 times the speed of a bullet, so the kinetic energy of a small particle of paint or a grain of sand is equivalent to the same energy of a bullet with 100 times its mass. With each spaceflight, more and more orbital debris is introduced, which is why this problem continues to be the most dangerous.
Another reason for the dangers of spacewalks is that the environment in outer space is extremely difficult for pre-flight simulation. Spacewalks are often scheduled late in the development of a flight plan, when any pressing problems or malfunctions are discovered, sometimes even during the flight itself. The potential danger of spacewalks inevitably leads to emotional pressure on astronauts.
It is very difficult to help an astronaut who has gone into outer space.
A potential danger is the possibility of loss or unacceptable removal from the spacecraft, threatening death due to the exhaustion of the supply of breathing mixture. Also dangerous are possible damage or punctures of spacesuits, the depressurization of which threatens with anoxia and rapid death if the astronauts do not have time to return to the ship in time. It is significant that the very first rather dangerous incident happened already during the first spacewalk of an astronaut. Having completed the program for the first exit, Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov experienced difficulties returning to the ship, since the swollen spacesuit did not pass through the Voskhod airlock. Only the release of the oxygen pressure in the spacesuit made it possible then to complete the flight safely.

Alexey Leonov's story about emergency situations during a spacewalk:

“When they created a ship for spacewalks, they had to solve many problems, one of which was related to the size of the hatch. In order for the lid to open inward completely, the lodgement would have to be cut. Then I would not fit in it in the shoulders. And I agreed to reduce the diameter of the hatch. Thus, there was a gap of 20 mm from each shoulder between the suit and the edge of the hatch.
On Earth, we carried out tests in a pressure chamber with a vacuum corresponding to an altitude of 60 km ... In reality, when I went into outer space, it turned out a little differently. The pressure in the suit is about 600 mm, and outside - 10 - 9; such conditions on Earth could not be simulated. In the vacuum of space, the spacesuit swelled, neither the stiffening ribs nor the dense fabric could withstand it. Of course, I assumed that this would happen, but I did not think that it would be so strong. I tightened all the straps, but the suit was so swollen that my hands came out of the gloves when I grabbed the rails, and my legs out of my boots. In this state, of course, I could not squeeze into the airlock hatch. A critical situation arose, and there was no time to consult with the Earth. As long as I report to them ... while they deliberate ... And who would take responsibility? Only Pasha Belyaev saw this, but he could not help. And then I, violating all the instructions and not informing the Earth, switch to a pressure of 0.27 atmospheres. This is the second mode of operation of the spacesuit. If by this time my nitrogen had not been washed out of my blood, then nitrogen would have boiled - and that’s it ... death. I figured that I had been under pure oxygen for an hour and there should not be any boiling. After I switched to the second mode, everything "sat down" to its place.
Nervous, he put a movie camera into the airlock and, violating the instructions, went into the airlock not with his feet, but with his head forward. Grabbing the handrail, I pushed myself forward. Then I closed the outer hatch and began to turn around, since you still need to enter the ship with your feet. Otherwise, I would not have been able to, because the lid, which opens inward, ate 30% of the volume of the cabin. Therefore, I had to turn around (the inner diameter of the airlock is 1 meter, the width of the spacesuit at the shoulders is 68 cm). Here was the biggest load, my pulse reached 190. I still managed to roll over and enter the ship with my feet, as expected, but I had such a heat stroke that, violating the instructions and not checking the tightness, I opened the helmet, not closing the hatch behind him. I wipe my eyes with a glove, but I can’t wipe it off, as if someone is pouring on my head. Then I had only 60 liters of oxygen for breathing and ventilation, and now the Orlan has 360 liters ... I was the first in history to go out and immediately move 5 meters away. Nobody else did this. But it was necessary to work with this halyard, to put it on hooks so that it would not hang out. There was a huge amount of physical activity.
The only thing I didn't do on the way out was I couldn't take a picture of the ship from the side. I had a miniature Ajax camera that could shoot through a button. It was given to us with the personal permission of the KGB chairman. This camera was remotely controlled by a cable; due to the deformation of the suit, I could not reach it. But I did filming (3 minutes with the S-97 camera), and two television cameras constantly watched me from the ship, but they did not have a high resolution. Based on these materials, they later made a very interesting film.
But the worst thing was when I returned to the ship - the partial pressure of oxygen (in the cabin) began to grow, which reached 460 mm and continued to grow. This is at a rate of 160 mm! But after all, 460 mm is explosive gas, because Bondarenko burned out on this ... At first we sat in a daze. Everyone understood, but they could do almost nothing: they completely removed the humidity, removed the temperature (it became 10-12 degrees C). And the pressure is growing ... The slightest spark - and everything would turn into a molecular state, and we understood this. Seven hours in this state, and then fell asleep ... apparently from stress. Then we figured out that I had touched the boost switch with a hose from the spacesuit ... What actually happened? Since the ship was stabilized relative to the Sun for a long time, then, naturally, a deformation arose: after all, on the one hand, cooling to -140 degrees C, on the other, heating to +150 degrees C ... The hatch closing sensors worked, but a gap remained. The regeneration system began to build up pressure, and oxygen began to grow, 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 began to drop before our eyes.

Although there are currently no known accidents associated with spacewalks, space technology developers are trying to reduce the need for extravehicular activity. Eliminating this need, for example, when performing assembly work in space, can be helped by the development of special remote-controlled robots.