The flight was equipped with an inflatable airlock that was extended from the Voskhod module once the crew safely reached orbit. In March 1965, Leonov was one of two cosmonauts launched on the Voskhod 2 mission. In fact, only one person had ever performed one. The noted and sad irony that the first person to walk in space died on the same day two NASA astronauts performed what is now a near “routine” spacewalk outside the International Space Station is poignant, to say the least.īut 54 years ago, spacewalks were anything but routine. The first picture ever drawn in space was created by Leonov after watching the Sun rise over Earth’s horizon on Voskhod 2.ĭuring the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight in 1975, Leonov drew portraits of his Apollo astronaut counterparts. He also used his imagination for several other portraits, including some of the moon. Throughout his military career, he attained the rank of Major General in the Soviet Air Force, serving primarily as a fighter pilot.īeyond that, he was an artist – becoming the first person to create art in space in the form of pencil drawings of inspirational landscapes of what he saw out the windows of his spacecraft and spacesuit helmet. “Sunrise” – the first #spaceart created on orbit by Alexey Leonov in March of 1965, on the same Vokshod 2 mission in which he took the first-ever spacewalk. Nineteen years later, Leonov would go on to graduate from the Chuguev military pilots’ academy. The first person to create art in space, the first person to perform a spacewalk and leave the confined safety of a spacecraft in orbit, the Commander of the first international mission in space history, and the last surviving cosmonaut of the Voskhod era has died at the age of 85.Īlexei Leonov was a pioneer in multiple ways for space exploration, debuting practices and relationships vital to humanity’s continued presence and work in space today aboard the International Space Station.īut he was much more than simply a cosmonaut.Īlexei Leonov – much more than just a cosmonaut:Ī veteran of two flagship space missions, Leonov is certainly best remembered for his contributions to space exploration.īorn in Listvyanka, West Siberian Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union in 1934, Leonov lost his father two years later during Stalin’s infamous purges of those who, according to Leonov in his autobiography, “showed too much independence or strength of character.”
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