Soviet cosmonaut exiting the spacecraft Voskhod 2, 1965
Photo from Associated Press
On this day in 1965 — 58 years ago —the first spacewalk was carried by the Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.
The walk was a major Soviet advance in the space race. The plans had been kept secret, so Soviet broadcasts of the event caught most of the world by surprise, including Lieutenant Colonel Leonov’s family.
“What is he doing?” his four-year-old daughter cried. “Please tell daddy to get back inside.”
After he retired, Leonov revealed how many times the mission had neared disaster. In the 2004 book “Two Sides of the Moon,” he detailed how high pressure in his spacesuit had nearly prevented him from re-entering the capsule.
Then a systems failure forced the two-man crew to manually guide re-entry. They landed in Siberia, without communications, and endured days of frigid temperatures, with one pistol to ward off wolves.
After they were found, the pair skied miles to a rescue helicopter.
Thanks New York Times