Spacewalk Leonov and. History of space exploration. Alexei Leonov's spacewalk. advanced spacecraft

The first person to go into space was twice Hero of the USSR Alexei Leonov. He was a little over 12 minutes out of the ship. There are feats that humanity has the right to be proud of, and this one is one of them.

"Voskhod-2" - a step into history

Back in 1963, the designer Korolev admitted the possibility and understood the need for such an experiment, and from the next year preparations for it began to be carried out. First of all, it was necessary to change the design of the ship itself.

Taking Voskhod-1 as a basis, it was decided to replace one porthole with an inflatable airlock, which should be located on the outside of the ship, and reduce the crew to two people. Thus, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was born, which was used by the first man in outer space.

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 are different person made an excellent tandem for the experiment.

For 3 months, the cosmonauts got acquainted with the structure of the new spacecraft.

Then came exhausting training in weightlessness. In addition, I had to run 5 km daily and go swimming.

EVA Suit

For the crew of "Voskhod-2" they developed a completely new spacesuit with the sonorous name "Berkut". It was equipped with an additional sealed layer. The upper was made from several layers of metallized material.

Its mass increased due to the backpack, which was worn on the back and was equipped with a ventilation system with two cylinders with a capacity of 2 liters for oxygen. To better reflect the sun's rays, the designers changed its color from orange to white.

The total weight of this suit was about 100 kg.

Shortly before the flight, the astronauts trained in spacesuits. A small supply of air led to the fact that at the slightest effort a person was covered with sweat from tension. In addition, they were bulky and uncomfortable.

But this did not stop our astronauts. They decided at all costs to make the first manned spacewalk a reality.

Launch of the first flight into space

Then, at the dawn of the birth of astronautics, no one knew what awaited a man who went into outer space. At that time, no rescue systems had yet been created. 1965 could have been the year greatest collapse space program USSR.

And now, after three years of preparation, on March 18, 1965, Voskhod-2 successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

After the ship entered orbit and made its first orbit, Leonov began to prepare.

The beginning of the rapid study of the universe is considered to be April 12, 1961, when a man went into space for the first time and he became Yuri Gagarin, a citizen of the USSR. Year after year after his flight, more and more discoveries were made.

open space

Being outside a spaceship in one spacesuit is a risky business. Exactly 52 years ago pilot Soviet Union Alexei Leonov made a spacewalk. Despite the fact that Leonov spent only 12 minutes in vacuum, it was a real feat. These few minutes the cosmonaut calls absolute silence, he spoke about this in his first interviews. Today year of human spacewalk every student knows. In 1965, on March 12, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft launched on board with Alexei Leonov and the commander of the apparatus Pavel Belyaev, since then this date has been important for the history of Russia. Leonov spacewalk did when he was 31 years old.

How it was

The first ever human walk in space outside the side of the ship caused a real delight all over the world. Moreover, this happened precisely when the USSR and America fiercely competed for the title of the first in the field of mastering the space of weightlessness. Spacewalk was regarded at that time as a propaganda success for the Soviet Union and a serious blow to American national pride.

Leonov's spacewalk- this is a real breakthrough in the field of exploration of the Universe. In fact, there were many dangerous moments during the flight that the astronaut experienced. Almost immediately, his suit inflated as a result of strong pressure. To solve the problem, the pilot had to break the instructions and reduce the pressure inside. That is why he entered the ship not with his feet forward, but with his head. Cosmonaut Leonov spacewalk, despite all the problems, performed successfully and landed successfully.

Despite the technical inspection of the vessel and its thorough preparation for the flight, problems still arose. A sharp temperature drop led to the fact that a crevice formed in the hatch lining. What would entail the depressurization of the ship and the death of the astronauts. After the first spacewalk year Over the years, research has become more and more active.

In the days of the Soviet Union, they kept silent about the emergency situations that occurred, the truth was made public relatively recently, including human spacewalk was imperfect. But today it is already possible to tell the whole truth. In particular, that Alexei Leonov spacewalk almost committed without a safety cable, and if not for the commander of the ship, who noticed this in time, Belyaev's body to this day would be in the orbit of the planet.

What did Leonov feel?

Astronaut's spacewalk This is a real feat and a breakthrough in science. Alexey Leonov will forever remain the first person in the history of mankind who saw the planet Earth from a height of 500 km. At the same time, he did not feel movement at all, although he flew at a speed several times higher than the speed of a jet aircraft. It is impossible on Earth to feel the gigantic environment surrounding a person, this is available only from space. When Leonov saw the Irtysh, he received a command to return to the abortion of the ship, but he could not do it right away because of the swollen spacesuit. Luckily, Alexei Leonov's spacewalk ended successfully.

Alexei Leonov forever entered the history of the exploration of near-Earth space - the Soviet cosmonaut became the first who visited outer space. It was originally planned that Leonov would be sent into orbit as part of the Vostok-11 mission, but the fateful launch was postponed for 18 months, and as a result, Alexei flew on March 18, 1965 on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, together with his partner Pavel Belyaev .

Voskhod-2

When the cosmonauts reached orbit, preparations began: Leonov put on a specially designed spacesuit with a supply of oxygen for 45 minutes, and Belyaev set about installing a flexible airlock through which Alexei was supposed to go into space.

After all the necessary precautions were taken, Leonov left the ship and spent a total of 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside it. When it was time to return, an unexpected problem arose - the astronaut's spacesuit in a vacuum was greatly swollen and did not fit into the airlock.


At first, Leonov wanted to report an emergency situation to Earth, but he realized that they would not help him with advice, because he was the only person who has ever experienced something like this. The first prisoner of outer space in history quickly found a way out of the situation: in order to get inside the ship, it was necessary to reduce the size of the spacesuit, and this could only be done by bleeding off excess oxygen.

Leonov decided to take this step, realizing that every additional minute spent in thought could be his last. He began to release oxygen from the suit, squeezing inch by inch into the airlock. What he had to go through in those few minutes, the astronaut prefers not to tell, but the impressions were certainly not pleasant.

When the episode with Leonov, who got stuck, was successfully resolved, it turned out that the orientation system had failed - the cosmonauts had to land manually, and after the capsule with Belyaev and Leonov entered the Earth's atmosphere, it began to rotate rapidly due to the fact that the orbital module did not separate from the landing, as the calculations suggested.

On this “carousel”, the astronauts experienced overloads up to 10G, but when the cable that did not allow the landing and orbital modules to disconnect burned out, the capsule was stabilized. Because of all these troubles, the landing did not take place at all where it was calculated - the astronauts found themselves in a dense forest about 180 km north of Perm.

Belyaev and Leonov spent two nights in the taiga, the temperature sometimes dropped to -30 ° C, and the lander fell into disrepair, so the astronauts could not use it to warm themselves. When they were discovered, the rescuers first of all lit a huge fire to warm the heroes, and later the whole company ran for another 9 km on skis to get to the helicopter.

The feat of Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov is a convincing example of what strong-willed and courageous people even in open space conditions or with overloads of 10G. For the successful implementation of the flight, its participants were awarded high ranks Hero of the Soviet Union.

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Alexei Leonov was the first to step into outer space / Photo: rusevik.ru

On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov made the first spacewalk in history. This mission was the most important stage in the development of astronautics. The whole country was following her!

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, USSR pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov was born on May 30, 1934 in the village of Listvyanka Kemerovo region in a miner's family. After graduating from the Chuguev Military Pilot School, A. A. Leonov served in aviation units Air Force USSR.

March 7, 1960 A. A. Leonov was enrolled in the first detachment Soviet cosmonauts. In 1965, the State Commission approved Alexei Leonov as the co-pilot of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. March 18, 1965 Voskhod-2 with cosmonauts Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. To perform a manned spacewalk, the Voskhod-2 ship was equipped with an airlock. For the astronaut, a special spacesuit was developed with a multilayer hermetic shell, with the help of which excess pressure was maintained inside the spacesuit, ensuring the normal life of the astronaut. Outside, the spacesuit had a special coating to protect the astronaut from the thermal effects of sunlight. Both crew members were equipped with spacesuits so that the spacecraft commander could, if necessary, provide assistance to the astronaut who went into outer space.

March 18, 1965 at 11:30 a.m. Moscow time Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov made the world's first spacewalk. The time of the astronaut's stay outside the spacecraft (from the moment of exit from the airlock to the entrance to it) was 12 minutes. 09 sec. Departure from the ship was carried out at a distance of up to 5.35 meters, for the full length of the halyard. Free floating in space was carried out during several departures and approaches to the ship. During this time, the cosmonaut made observations and video footage.

During the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, emergency situations repeatedly arose on board and while A. A. Leonov was in open space. Due to the increase in pressure in the spacesuit, the astronaut had difficulty returning to the spacecraft. Due to the failure of the automatic descent control system, the landing of the ship was carried out in manual mode for the first time.

First spacewalk / Drawing: Alexei Leonov

On October 20, 1965, the FAI (International Aviation Federation) approved the world record for the duration of a person's stay in outer space outside a spacecraft of 12 minutes. 9 sec., and the absolute record for the maximum flight altitude above the Earth's surface of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft is 497.7 km. The International Aviation Federation awarded Alexei Leonov the highest award - gold medal"Cosmos" for the first in the history of mankind access to open space, the USSR pilot-cosmonaut P. I. Belyaev was awarded a diploma and a medal of the FAI.