Posted on 03/18/2025 2:49:44 AM PDT by Ezekiel
On March 18, 1965, the world saw the first person to venture outside a spacecraft, floating in the vastness of space. This is the story of how two cosmonauts almost died several times while performing this historical move.
First spacewalk by Alexei Leonov
On March 18, 1965, at 10 a.m. Moscow time, the Soviet spacecraft Voskhod-2 with a crew consisting of Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov launched from the base in Baikonur (modern-day Kazakhstan). At 11:35 a.m., Alexei Leonov left the airlock of the ship and became the first man to perform a spacewalk. He spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds in outer space. This spacewalk marked the beginning of the history of extravehicular activity (EVA), which is now an important part of the work of astronauts.
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What went wrong during the first spacewalk?
Leonov’s spacewalk quickly turned into a survival challenge. Due to a pressure imbalance, his spacesuit swelled up and became stiff like a ball, making it nearly impossible for him to bend and re-enter the airlock. With oxygen running low, he took a risky move: venting air from his suit until it was flexible enough to squeeze inside. He had to enter headfirst instead of feet first, against protocol, and struggled to turn around in the cramped airlock to seal it properly.
The challenges didn’t stop there.
(Excerpt) Read more at starwalk.space ...
Space time ping!
In 60 years we went from celebrating the first space walk to just being happy our space hostages have returned safely.
I remember those days...we were still catching up to the Ruskies. Ahead in some areas and behind in others.
We were in the Gemini program and I’d watch Uncle Walter describe each moment of the flights. I tried David Brinkley but it wasn’t the same as Uncle Walter. For all his many faults, he had a “Gee whiz...ain’t that somethin” admiration for Man in Space.
Unfortunately all my viewing was in black and white since my old man thought color was a fad or was simply too cheap to buy one.
But yeah..we watched and were amazed. We knew history was happening. teachers would wheel in TV’s to watch launches...the whole bit. I watched it all and was fascinated.
Much of the country was in awe of what was happening.
And in 1969 the whole world was in awe of the crowning success of landing on the moon.
We lost alot, after Apollo.
Now we don’t fly anymore. Other countries are surpassing us and we don’t seem to care.
I remember too. Great description of WC. Back then even the media hacks had a certain level of humanity and respect for others.
It was the era of Peak America.
"Well, here goes nothing."
NASA was a great outfit at its beginnings. Space walks, moon landings and checking out other planets.
Like any well intentioned government agency, it turned to crap once the democrats got a hold of it. Today NASA is more concerned with climate change than bringing stranded astronauts home.
NASA needs to be gutted and filled with real scientists and technicians devoted to outer space activities.
Yep, I was 7 during this space walk. It is not looking back with rosy glasses, those WERE the good old days.
The thing was - we had a very similar problem at the start, but since the Soviets kept their problem secret, we didn’t know about it and thus couldn’t prepare for it.
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