Aleksei Leonov
Encyclopedia
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (born 30 May 1934 in Listvyanka, Kemerovo Oblast
, Soviet Union
) is a retired Soviet
/Russia
n cosmonaut
and Air Force Major General
who, on 18 March 1965, became the first human to conduct a space walk
.
Leonov was one of the twenty Soviet Air Force
pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut group in 1960. As all the Soviet cosmonauts Leonov was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
. His walk in space
was originally to have taken place on the Vostok
11 mission, but this was cancelled, and the historic event happened on the Voskhod 2
flight instead. He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds on 18 March 1965, connected to the craft by a 5.35 meter tether. At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off, and was barely able to get back inside the capsule. Leonov had spent some eighteen months undergoing intensive weightlessness
training for the mission.
As of November 2011, Leonov is the last survivor of the five cosmonauts in the Voskhod program
.
In 1968, Leonov was selected to be commander of a circumlunar Soyuz
flight. However as all unmanned test flights of this project failed, and the Apollo 8
mission already given that step in the Space Race
to the USA, the flight was canceled. He was also selected to be the first Soviet person to land on the Moon, aboard the LOK
/N1 spacecraft. This project was also canceled. (Incidentally, the design required a risky spacewalk between lunar vehicles, something that contributed to his selection). Leonov was to have been commander of the ill-fated 1971 Soyuz 11
mission to Salyut 1
, the first manned space station, but his crew was replaced with the backup after the cosmonaut Valery Kubasov was suspected to have contracted tuberculosis
.
Leonov was to have commanded the next mission to Salyut 1, but this was scrapped after the deaths of the Soyuz 11 crew members, and the space station was lost. The next two Salyuts (actually the military Almaz
station) were lost at launch or failed soon after, and Leonov's crew stood by. By the time Salyut 4
reached orbit Leonov had been switched to a more prestigious project.
Leonov's second trip into space was similarly significant: he commanded the Soviet half of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission -- Soyuz 19 -- the first joint space mission between the Soviet Union and the United States.
From 1976 to 1982, Leonov was the commander of the cosmonaut team ("Chief Cosmonaut"), and deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, where he oversaw crew training. He also edited the cosmonaut newsletter Neptune. He retired in 1991.
Leonov is an accomplished artist whose published books include albums of his artistic works and works he did in collaboration with his friend Andrei Sokolov. Leonov has taken colored pencils and paper into space, where he has sketched the Earth and drawn portraits of the Apollo astronauts who flew with him during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
.
Arthur C. Clarke
wrote in his notes to 2010: Odyssey Two
that, after a 1968 screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey
,
Leonov pointed out to him that the alignment of the Moon, Earth, and Sun shown in the opening is essentially the same as that in Leonov's 1967 painting Near the Moon, although the painting's diagonal framing of the scene was not replicated in the film.
Clarke kept an autographed sketch of this painting -- which Leonov made after the screening, hanging on his office wall.
In 2001, he was a vice president of Moscow-based Alfa Bank
and an advisor to the first deputy of the Board.
In 2004, Leonov and former American astronaut David Scott
began work on a dual biography / history of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Titled Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race, it was published in 2006. Neil Armstrong
and Tom Hanks
both wrote introductions to the book.
Leonov was also a contributor to the 2007 book Into That Silent Sea
by Colin Burgess
and Francis French
, which describes his life and career in space exploration
.
1965
1966
1967
1969:
1972
Kemerovo Oblast
Kemerovo Oblast , also known as Kuzbass after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia , located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) is a retired Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
/Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n cosmonaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
and Air Force Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
who, on 18 March 1965, became the first human to conduct a space walk
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
.
Biography
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut group in 1960. As all the Soviet cosmonauts Leonov was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
. His walk in space
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
was originally to have taken place on the Vostok
Vostok programme
The Vostok programme was a Soviet human spaceflight project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth's orbit for the first time. The programme developed the Vostok spacecraft from the Zenit spy satellite project and adapted the Vostok rocket from an existing ICBM design...
11 mission, but this was cancelled, and the historic event happened on the Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2 was a Soviet manned space mission in March 1965. Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock...
flight instead. He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds on 18 March 1965, connected to the craft by a 5.35 meter tether. At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off, and was barely able to get back inside the capsule. Leonov had spent some eighteen months undergoing intensive weightlessness
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
training for the mission.
As of November 2011, Leonov is the last survivor of the five cosmonauts in the Voskhod program
Voskhod programme
The Voskhod programme was the second Soviet human spaceflight project. Two manned missions were flown using the Voskhod spacecraft and rocket, one in 1964 and one in 1965....
.
In 1968, Leonov was selected to be commander of a circumlunar Soyuz
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
flight. However as all unmanned test flights of this project failed, and the Apollo 8
Apollo 8
Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
mission already given that step in the Space Race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
to the USA, the flight was canceled. He was also selected to be the first Soviet person to land on the Moon, aboard the LOK
Soyuz 7K-L3
The Soyuz 7K-LOK, or simply LOK was a Soviet spacecraft designed to launch men from Earth to circle the moon and developed in parallel to the 7K-L1. The LOK would carry two cosmonauts into orbit around the Moon, acting as "mother" spacecraft for the LK Lander, which would land one member of the...
/N1 spacecraft. This project was also canceled. (Incidentally, the design required a risky spacewalk between lunar vehicles, something that contributed to his selection). Leonov was to have been commander of the ill-fated 1971 Soyuz 11
Soyuz 11
Soyuz 11 was the first manned mission to arrive at the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The mission arrived at the space station on June 7, 1971 and departed on June 30, 1971. The mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry, killing the...
mission to Salyut 1
Salyut 1
Salyut 1 was the first space station of any kind, launched by the USSR on April 19, 1971. It was launched unmanned using a Proton-K rocket. Its first crew came later in Soyuz 10, but was unable to dock completely; its second crew launched in Soyuz 11 and remained on board for 23 days...
, the first manned space station, but his crew was replaced with the backup after the cosmonaut Valery Kubasov was suspected to have contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
Leonov was to have commanded the next mission to Salyut 1, but this was scrapped after the deaths of the Soyuz 11 crew members, and the space station was lost. The next two Salyuts (actually the military Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....
station) were lost at launch or failed soon after, and Leonov's crew stood by. By the time Salyut 4
Salyut 4
Salyut 4 was a Salyut space station launched on December 26, 1974 into an orbit with an apogee of 355 km, a perigee of 343 km and an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. It was essentially a copy of the DOS 3, and unlike its ill-fated sibling it was a complete success...
reached orbit Leonov had been switched to a more prestigious project.
Leonov's second trip into space was similarly significant: he commanded the Soviet half of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission -- Soyuz 19 -- the first joint space mission between the Soviet Union and the United States.
From 1976 to 1982, Leonov was the commander of the cosmonaut team ("Chief Cosmonaut"), and deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, where he oversaw crew training. He also edited the cosmonaut newsletter Neptune. He retired in 1991.
Leonov is an accomplished artist whose published books include albums of his artistic works and works he did in collaboration with his friend Andrei Sokolov. Leonov has taken colored pencils and paper into space, where he has sketched the Earth and drawn portraits of the Apollo astronauts who flew with him during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
-Backup crew:-Crew notes:Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.-Soyuz crew:...
.
Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
wrote in his notes to 2010: Odyssey Two
2010: Odyssey Two
2010: Odyssey Two is a 1982 best-selling science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. It is the sequel to the 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, but continues the story of Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation with the same title and not Clarke's original novel. The book is a part of Clarke's...
that, after a 1968 screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
,
Leonov pointed out to him that the alignment of the Moon, Earth, and Sun shown in the opening is essentially the same as that in Leonov's 1967 painting Near the Moon, although the painting's diagonal framing of the scene was not replicated in the film.
Clarke kept an autographed sketch of this painting -- which Leonov made after the screening, hanging on his office wall.
In 2001, he was a vice president of Moscow-based Alfa Bank
Alfa Bank
Alfa Bank, the corporate treasury of the Alfa Group, is the largest private commercial bank in Russia. Headquartered in Moscow, it operates in 7 countries, providing financial services to over 40,000 active corporate customers and 5.3 million retail clients...
and an advisor to the first deputy of the Board.
In 2004, Leonov and former American astronaut David Scott
David Scott
David Randolph Scott is an American engineer, test pilot, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and former NASA astronaut and engineer, who was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963...
began work on a dual biography / history of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Titled Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race, it was published in 2006. Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
and Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
both wrote introductions to the book.
Leonov was also a contributor to the 2007 book Into That Silent Sea
Into That Silent Sea
Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era 1961-1965 is a 2007 non-fiction book by space historians Francis French and Colin Burgess...
by Colin Burgess
Colin Burgess (author)
Colin Burgess is an Australian author and historian, specializing in space flight and military history. He is a former customer service manager for Qantas Airways, and a regular contributor to the collectSPACE online community. He lives in New South Wales...
and Francis French
Francis French
Francis French is a book and magazine author from Manchester, England, specializing in space flight history. He is a former director of events for Sally Ride Science, and a director at the San Diego Air & Space Museum....
, which describes his life and career in space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
.
Legacy
- Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. ClarkeSir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's novel 2010: Odyssey Two2010: Odyssey Two2010: Odyssey Two is a 1982 best-selling science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. It is the sequel to the 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, but continues the story of Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation with the same title and not Clarke's original novel. The book is a part of Clarke's...
was dedicated to Leonov and Andrei SakharovAndrei SakharovAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
; the fictional spaceship Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in the book was named after him. - Alexey Leonov was decorated twice as the Hero of the Soviet UnionHero of the Soviet UnionThe title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
(March 23, 1965 and 1975). He was also awarded the Order of LeninOrder of LeninThe Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
, Order of the Red StarOrder of the Red StarEstablished on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
, numerous medals and foreign orders. He bears the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor of Bulgaria and Hero of Vietnam. - Leonov wore a Russian PoljotPoljotPoljot , is a brand of Soviet/Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory . The flagship brand of the USSR's watch industry, Poljot produced numerous historical watches used in many important space missions, including the world's first space watch worn by Yuri Gagarin...
"FMWF Strela" watch (a transliteration of СТРЕЛА, which actually means "Arrow") chronograph during his historic first space walk. - At an Apollo-Soyuz Test Project press conference, Leonov stated (in English) that, while in the United States for ASTP training, he wanted to visit Hollywood, because he had aspirations of being a movie starActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. (He then joked, "I don't want [to be a movie star]... Tom Stafford want!") - Leonov, along with Rusty SchweickartRusty SchweickartRussell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart aka Schweikart is an American former astronaut, research scientist, US Air Force fighter pilot, business and government executive...
, Vitaly Sevastyanov and Georgi GrechkoGeorgi GrechkoGeorgy Mikhaylovich Grechko is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on several space flights among which Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26, and Soyuz T-14.Grechko graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Mechanics with a doctorate in mathematics. He was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union...
established the Association of Space ExplorersAssociation of Space ExplorersThe Association of Space Explorers is a non-profit organization with a membership composed of people who have completed at least one Earth orbit in space . It was founded in 1985, and the current membership stands at 320 from 34 different countries...
in 1984. Membership is open to all people who have flown in outer spaceOuter spaceOuter space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
. - In the Star Trek Novel Destiny: Gods of Night there is a ship named the U.S.S. Alexey Leonov, which sacrifices itself to save the planet Korvat from the Borg
Stamps
- Alexey Leonov on Soviet Union 1965 Stamp 10 kopeks
- Soviet Union 1965, 6 kopeks
- Soviet Union 1965 with Pavel BelyayevPavel BelyayevPavel Ivanovich Belyayev , , was a Soviet fighter pilot with extensive experience in piloting different types of aircraft...
- Albania 1965 twice 6 and 20, with Pavel Belyayev
- Albania 1965
- Bulgaria 1965 with Pavel Belyayev
- Bulgaria 1965 twice 2 (with Pavel Belyayev) and 20 st
- Cuba 1965, twice
- Czechoslovakia 1965 (twice):
- DDR 1965
- DDR 1965
- Hungary 1965
- Togo 1965
- Vietnam 1965
1966
- Bulgaria 1966 13 st, with Pavel Belyayev
- Ecuador 1966
- Mali 1966, twice
- Mauritania 1966, 200f
- Niger 1966
1967
- Soviet Union 1967 with Andrew Sokolov, series of three stamps, dedicated to the Day of CosmonauticsCosmonautics DayCosmonautics Day is a holiday celebrated in Russia and some other former USSR countries on April 12. This holiday celebrates the first manned space flight made on April 12, 1961 by the 27-year old Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin circled the Earth for 1 hour and 48 minutes aboard the Vostok...
(Soviet Union stamp catalogueSoviet Union stamp catalogueSoviet Union stamp catalogue is a national catalogue of the RSFSR and USSR postage stamps and miniature sheets, which was being published in the USSR by the “Soyuzpechat” Central Philatelic Agency and some other publishers by the Ministry of Communications. The catalogue usually republished in...
#3476-3478) was carried out in March 1967 - Soviet Union 1967 with Andrew Sokolov, series of five stamps called "Space Fiction" (Soviet Union stamp catalogueSoviet Union stamp catalogueSoviet Union stamp catalogue is a national catalogue of the RSFSR and USSR postage stamps and miniature sheets, which was being published in the USSR by the “Soyuzpechat” Central Philatelic Agency and some other publishers by the Ministry of Communications. The catalogue usually republished in...
#3545-3549) saw the light in October 1967
1969:
- Mongolia 1969
1972
- Soviet Union 1972 with Andrew Sokolov, series of six stamps, dedicated to the 15 th anniversary of the space age (Soviet Union stamp catalogueSoviet Union stamp catalogueSoviet Union stamp catalogue is a national catalogue of the RSFSR and USSR postage stamps and miniature sheets, which was being published in the USSR by the “Soyuzpechat” Central Philatelic Agency and some other publishers by the Ministry of Communications. The catalogue usually republished in...
#4162-4167) was out.
External links
- A video of his spacewalk
- The Voskhod 2 mission revisited
- Science fiction art by Leonov and Sokolov. Extensive gallery, with annotation.
- "I could see Armstrong bouncing on the moon" – Alexey Leonov