Who made the first spacewalk. man in outer space

March 18, 1965 - was in orbit Voskhod-2 spacecraft launched with astronauts: Commander of the ship - Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev , pilot - Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov. During the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, an astronaut A.A. Leonov carried out the first manned spacewalk lasting 12 minutes.

The ship was equipped with an inflatable lock chamber "Volga". Before the launch, the chamber folded and measured 70 cm in diameter and 77 cm in length. In space, the chamber was inflated and had the following dimensions: 2.5 meters in length, inner diameter - 1 meter, outer - 1.2 meters. Camera weight - 250 kg. Before deorbiting, the camera fired back from the ship. A space suit was developed for spacewalking "Golden eagle" . He provided a stay in outer space for 30 minutes.The first exit took 23 minutes 41 seconds (outside ship 12 minutes 9 seconds) .

It's interesting that training before this flight was carried out on board the Tu-104AK aircraft, in which a full-size model of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was installed with a real lock chamber (it was she who flew into space later). During the flight of an aircraft along a parabolic trajectory, when weightlessness set in for several minutes, the cosmonauts practiced exit in a spacesuit through an airlock.

Voskhod-2 launched on March 18, 1965 at 10:00 Moscow time. The airlock was already inflated on the first turn. Both astronauts were in space suits. According to the program, Belyaev was supposed to help Leonov return to the ship in the event of an emergency.

The spacewalk began on the second orbit. Leonov moved into the lock chamber and Belyaev closed the hatch behind him. The air was then bled from the chamber and 11:32:54 Belyaev opened the outer hatch of the lock chamber from his remote control in the ship. AT 11:34:51 Alexei Leonov left the airlock and ended up in outer space. Leonov gently pushed off and felt the ship tremble from his push. The first thing he saw was the black sky. Belyaev's voice was immediately heard:

- "Diamond-2" began to exit. Movie camera on? - the commander addressed this question to his comrade.
- Understood. I am Almaz-2. I take off the lid. Throw away. Caucasus! Caucasus! I see the Caucasus below me! Began to withdraw (from the ship).
Before throwing the lid away, Leonov thought for a second whether to send it into satellite orbit or down to Earth. Thrown to the ground. The astronaut's pulse was 164 beats per minute, the moment of exit was very tense.
Belyaev transmitted to Earth:
-Attention! The man went into outer space!
The television image of Leonov soaring against the background of the Earth was broadcast on all television channels.

The total weight of the "exit suit" was close to 100 kg ... Five times the astronaut flew away from the ship and returned on a halyard, 5.35 m long ..
All this time, the “room” temperature was maintained in the spacesuit, and its outer surface was heated in the sun to +60°C and cooled in the shade to -100°C...

The flight of Vostok-2 went down in history twice.

In the first, official and open, it was said that everything went brilliantly.

TASS message dated March 18, 1965:
Today, March 18, 1965, at 11:30 Moscow time, during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, a man's exit into outer space was carried out for the first time. On the second circuit of the flight, co-pilot pilot-cosmonaut Lieutenant Colonel Leonov Alexei Arkhipovich, in a special spacesuit with an autonomous life support system, made an exit into outer space, retired from the ship at a distance of up to five meters, successfully carried out a set of planned studies and observations and safely returned to the ship. With the help of the onboard television system, the process of Comrade Leonov's exit into outer space, his work outside the spacecraft, and his return to the spacecraft were transmitted to Earth and observed by a network of ground stations. The state of health of Comrade Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov during his stay outside the ship and after returning to the ship is good. The commander of the ship, comrade Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev, is also feeling well.

In the second, which was gradually revealed and never published in detail, there are at least three emergency situations.
Leonov was observed on television and broadcast the image to Moscow. When leaving the ship for five meters, he waved his hand in
open space. Leonov was outside the airlock for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. But it turned out that getting out was easier than going back. The suit swelled in space and could not fit into the airlock. Leonov was forced to relieve pressure in order to “lose weight” and make him softer. Still, he had to climb back not with his feet, as was planned, but with his head. All the vicissitudes of what happened during the return to the ship, we found out only after the landing of the astronauts. A.A.Leonov's spacesuit, after being in space, lost its flexibility and did not allow the astronaut to enter the hatch. A.A. Leonov made attempt after attempt, but to no avail. The situation was complicated by the fact that the supply of oxygen in the spacesuit was designed for only twenty minutes, and each failure increased the degree of risk to the astronaut's life. Leonov limited the flow of oxygen, but from excitement and stress, his pulse and breathing rate increased sharply, which means that more oxygen was required. S.P. Korolev tried to calm him down, instill confidence. On Earth, they heard the reports of A.A. Leonov:"I can't, I failed again."

According to the cyclogram, Aleksey had to swim into the chamber with his feet, then, fully entering the airlock, close the hatch behind him and seal it. In reality, he had to bleed the air from the spacesuit almost to critical pressure. After several attempts, the astronaut decided
“float” into the cockpit facing forward. He succeeded, but at the same time he hit the glass of the helmet against its wall. It was scary - because the glass could burst. At 08:49 UTC the exit hatch of the airlock was closed and at 08:52 UTC pressurization of the airlock began.

After returning to the ship, the troubles continued. Second state of emergency It was incomprehensible pressure drop in the cabin pressurization cylinders from 75 to 25 atmospheres after Leonov's return. It was necessary to land no later than the 17th orbit, although Grigory Voronin, the chief designer of this part of the life system, reassured that there would be enough oxygen for another day. Here is how Alexei Arkhipovich describes the events:

... the partial pressure of oxygen (in the cabin) began to grow, which reached 460 mm and continued to grow. This is at a rate of 160 mm! But after all, 460 mm is explosive gas, because Bondarenko burned out on this ... At first we sat in a daze. Everyone understood, but they could do almost nothing: they completely removed the humidity, removed the temperature (it became 10-12 °). And the pressure is growing ... The slightest spark - and everything would turn into a molecular state, and we understood this. Seven hours in this state, and then fell asleep ... apparently from stress. Then we figured out that I had touched the boost switch with a hose from the spacesuit ... What actually happened? Since the ship was stabilized relative to the Sun for a long time, then, naturally, a deformation arose; after all, on the one hand, cooling to -140 ° C, on the other, heating to + 150 ° C ... The sensors for closing the hatch worked, but a gap remained. The regeneration system began to build up pressure, and oxygen began to grow, we did not have time to consume it ... The total pressure reached 920 mm. These several tons of pressure pressed down the hatch - and the pressure growth stopped. Then the pressure began to drop before our eyes.

Further more. TDU (brake propulsion system) did not work in automatic mode and the ship continued to fly. The crew was given the command to land the ship in manual mode on the 18th or 22nd orbit. Here is another quote from Leonov:

We went over Moscow, inclination 65°. We had to land exactly on this turn, and we ourselves chose the area for landing - 150 km from Solikamsk with a heading angle of 270 °, because there was taiga. No businesses, no power lines. They could land in Kharkov, in Kazan, in Moscow, but it was dangerous. The version that we got there due to imbalance is complete nonsense. We ourselves chose the landing site, as it was safer and possible deviations in the engine operation shifted the landing point also to safe areas. Only it was impossible to land in China - then relations were very tense. As a result, at a speed of 28,000 km / h, we sat down only 80 km from our calculated point. This is a good result. And then there were no reserve landing sites. And we weren't expected...

Finally, a report came in from a search helicopter. He discovered a red parachute and two astronauts 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Bereznyaki. The dense forest and deep snow made it impossible for helicopters to land near the astronauts. There were no settlements nearby either. Landing in the deep taiga was the last emergency in the history of Voskhod-2. The cosmonauts spent the night in the forest of the Northern Urals. Helicopters could only fly over them and report that “one is chopping wood, the other is putting it on the fire.”
Warm clothes and food were dropped from helicopters to the cosmonauts, but Belyaev and Leonov could not be pulled out of the taiga. A group of skiers with a doctor, who landed one and a half kilometers away, reached them through the snow in four hours, but did not dare to take them out of the taiga. A real competition unfolded for the salvation of the astronauts.
The landfill service, encouraged by Tyulin and Korolev, sent its rescue expedition to Perm, led by Lieutenant Colonel Belyaev and the foreman of our plant, Lygin. From Perm, they got by helicopter to a site two kilometers from Voskhod-2 and soon hugged the astronauts. Marshal Rudenko forbade his rescue service to evacuate astronauts from the ground to a hovering helicopter. They stayed in the taiga for a second cold night, although now they had a tent, warm fur uniforms and plenty of food. It came to Brezhnev. He was convinced that lifting astronauts into a helicopter hovering near the ground was a dangerous business.

Brezhnev agreed and approved a proposal to cut down trees nearby to prepare a landing site. When we landed, we were not immediately found ... We sat in spacesuits for two days, we had no other clothes. On the third day we were pulled out of there. Because of the sweat, my suit was knee-deep in moisture, about 6 liters. So in the legs and bubbling. Then, already at night, I say to Pasha: "Well, that's it, I'm cold." We took off our suits, stripped naked, wrung out our underwear, put it back on. Then the screen-vacuum thermal insulation was sporulated. They threw away all the hard part, and put the rest on themselves. These are nine layers of aluminized foil, covered with dederon on top. Parachute lines were wrapped around the top like two sausages. And so they stayed there for the night. And at 12 noon a helicopter arrived and landed 9 km away. Another helicopter in a basket lowered Yura Lygin directly towards us. Then Slava Volkov (Vladislav Volkov, future cosmonaut of TsKBEM) and others came to us on skis.
They brought us warm clothes, poured brandy, and we gave them our alcohol - and life became more fun. The fire was lit, the boiler was put on. We washed. In about two hours they cut down a small hut for us, where we spent the night normally. There was even a bed. On March 21, a helicopter landing site was prepared. And on the same day, on board the Mi-4, the cosmonauts arrived in Perm, from where they made an official report on the completion of the flight. And yet, despite all the problems that arose during the flight, it was the first, very first exit of man into outer space. Here is how Alexey Leonov describes his impressions:

I want to tell you that the picture of the cosmic abyss that I saw, with its grandeur, immensity, brightness of colors and sharp contrasts of pure darkness with the dazzling radiance of the stars, simply struck and fascinated me. To complete the picture, imagine - against this background, I see our Soviet ship, illuminated by the bright light of the sun's rays. When I was leaving the gateway, I felt a powerful stream of light and heat, reminiscent of electric welding. Above me was a black sky and bright, unblinking stars. The sun seemed to me like a red-hot fiery disk ...

In preparation for the flight, Belyaev and Leonov worked out all the actions and possible emergency situations during spacewalks during ground training, as well as in short-term weightlessness on board an aircraft flying along a parabolic trajectory.

On March 18, 1965, at 10 o'clock Moscow time, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft with cosmonauts Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Immediately after the ascent into orbit, already at the end of the first orbit, the crew began to prepare for Leonov's spacewalk. Belyaev helped Leonov to put on the back of an individual life support system with oxygen supply.

The locking was controlled by the commander of the ship Belyaev from the control panel installed in the cockpit. If necessary, Leonov could control the main locking operations from a remote control installed in the lock chamber.

Belyaev filled the lock chamber with air and opened the hatch connecting the cabin of the ship with the lock chamber. Leonov "floated" into the lock chamber, the commander of the ship, having closed the hatch into the chamber, began its depressurization.

At 11 hours 28 minutes 13 seconds, at the beginning of the second orbit, the ship's lock chamber was completely depressurized. At 11 hours 32 minutes 54 seconds the airlock hatch opened, and at 11 hours 34 minutes 51 seconds Leonov left the airlock into outer space. The cosmonaut was connected to the spacecraft by a 5.35-meter-long halyard, which included a steel cable and electrical wires for transferring data of medical observations and technical measurements to the spacecraft, as well as for telephone communication with the spacecraft commander.

In outer space, Leonov began to carry out the observations and experiments envisaged by the program. He made five withdrawals and approaches from the lock chamber, with the very first withdrawal made at a minimum distance - one meter - for orientation in new conditions, and the rest for the full length of the halyard. All this time, the spacesuit was maintained at "room" temperature, and its outer surface was heated in the sun to +60°C and cooled in the shade to -100°C. Pavel Belyaev, using a television camera and telemetry, followed Leonov's work and was ready, if necessary, to provide the necessary assistance to him.

After performing a series of experiments, Alexei Leonov received a command to return, but this was not easy to do. Due to the pressure difference in space, the suit swelled up, lost its flexibility, and Leonov could not squeeze into the airlock hatch. He made several unsuccessful attempts. The supply of oxygen in the suit was designed for only 20 minutes, which ended. Then the astronaut depressurized the spacesuit to emergency pressure. If by this time he had not had nitrogen washed out of his blood, he would have boiled and Leonov would have died. The suit shrunk, and contrary to the instructions to enter the airlock with his feet, he squeezed into it head first. Having closed the outer hatch, Leonov began to turn around, since he still had to enter the ship with his feet due to the fact that the lid that opened inwards ate up 30% of the cabin volume. It was difficult to turn around, since the inner diameter of the airlock was one meter, and the width of the suit at the shoulders was 68 centimeters. With great difficulty, Leonov managed to do this, and he was able to enter the ship with his feet, as expected.

Alexei Leonov at 11:47 entered the ship's lock chamber. And at 11 hours 51 minutes 54 seconds, after the hatch was closed, the pressurization of the airlock began. Thus, the pilot-cosmonaut was out of the ship in outer space for 23 minutes 41 seconds. According to the provisions of the International Sports Code, the net time spent by a person in outer space is calculated from the moment he appears from the airlock chamber (from the edge of the exit hatch of the ship) to the entrance back into the chamber. Therefore, the time spent by Alexei Leonov in open space outside the spacecraft is considered to be 12 minutes 09 seconds.

With the help of the onboard television system, the process of Alexei Leonov's exit into outer space, his work outside the spacecraft and his return to the spacecraft were transmitted to Earth and observed by a network of ground stations.

After returning to Leonov's cabin, the cosmonauts continued to carry out the experiments planned by the flight program.

There were several more emergency situations in flight, which, fortunately, did not lead to a tragedy. One of these situations arose during the return: the system of automatic orientation to the Sun did not work, and therefore the braking propulsion system did not turn on in time. The cosmonauts were supposed to land in automatic mode on the seventeenth orbit, but due to the failure of the automation caused by the “shooting off” of the lock chamber, they had to go to the next, eighteenth orbit and land using the manual control system. This was the first manual landing, and during its implementation it was found that it was impossible to look into the porthole from the cosmonaut's working chair and assess the position of the ship in relation to the Earth. It was possible to start braking only while sitting in a seat in a fastened state. Due to this contingency, the accuracy required during the descent was lost. As a result, the cosmonauts landed on March 19 far from the calculated landing point, in the deep taiga, 180 kilometers northwest of Perm.

We did not find them right away, tall trees prevented the landing of helicopters. Therefore, the astronauts had to spend the night near the fire, using parachutes and spacesuits for insulation. The next day, in the undergrowth, a few kilometers from the place where the crew landed, a rescue party descended to clear the site for a small helicopter. A group of rescuers on skis reached the astronauts. Rescuers built a log hut, where they equipped sleeping places for the night. On March 21, the platform for receiving the helicopter was prepared, and on the same day the cosmonauts arrived in Perm aboard the Mi-4, from where they made an official report on the completion of the flight.

On October 20, 1965, the International Aviation Federation (FAI) approved a world record for the duration of a person's stay in outer space outside a spacecraft of 12 minutes 09 seconds, and an absolute record for the maximum flight altitude of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft above the Earth's surface - 497.7 kilometers. The FAI awarded Alexei Leonov the highest award - the Gold Medal "Cosmos" for the first spacewalk in the history of mankind, the USSR pilot-cosmonaut Pavel Belyaev was awarded a diploma and a medal from the FAI.

The first spacewalk was performed by Soviet cosmonauts 2.5 months earlier than the Americans. The first American in space was Edward White, who performed a spacewalk on June 3, 1965, during his flight on the Gemini-4 spacecraft (Gemini-4). The duration of stay in open space was 22 minutes.

Over the past years, the range of tasks solved by cosmonauts outside spaceships and stations has increased significantly. The modernization of space suits has been constantly carried out and is being carried out. As a result, the duration of a person's stay in the vacuum of space in one exit has increased many times over. Today, spacewalks are an obligatory part of the program of all expeditions to the International Space Station. During exits, scientific research, repair work, installation of new equipment on the outer surface of the station, launch of small satellites and much more are carried out.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

After returning to Leonov's cabin, the cosmonauts continued to carry out the experiments planned by the flight program.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

The 60s of the 20th century were the time of the height of the "cold war" of two superpowers: the USA and the Soviet Union. The struggle is also being waged in the exploration of outer space. The first step is taken by the USSR, April 12, 1961 makes its first flight. The next step is the first man in outer space, who will take this height? Countries gave an answer to this question only after 4 years.

First man in outer space

The political and scientific battle was serious: Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts made regular flights into outer space, but all the work was carried out inside the ship. And, finally, that historic day came when the USSR again took the lead. On March 18, 1965, the Soviet pilot-cosmonaut went into outer space.

The flight took place on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. The commander was Leonov's partner -. Having reached orbit, the astronauts began to prepare. Aleksey Leonov put on a specially designed Berkut spacesuit, and Pavel Belyaev set about installing an airlock through which the exit was to take place. The chamber was cylindrical in shape and consisted of three compartments isolated from each other with 12 inflatable sections in each. When entering outer space, the lock chamber was depressurized.

Spacecraft "Voskhod-2"

As soon as the astronaut found himself in a vacuum inside the compartments, the countdown of his stay outside the ship began. The end of the spacewalk is considered to be the time when the airlock hatch was closed. Thus, the first spacewalk of Alexei Leonov lasted 23 minutes 41 seconds. He spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds completely out of the ship and camera. During this time, Leonov 5 times moved away from the ship and approached it. It was attached to Voskhod-2 with a special 5.35 m long halyard.

But not everything was so rosy. The Berkut suit was of a ventilation type with a total oxygen supply of 1666 liters. The air consumption per minute was 30-35 liters, depending on the astronaut's breathing rate, i.e. The supply of oxygen would be enough for a maximum of 45 minutes. When cosmonaut Leonov went out into open space, due to the difference in pressure, the spacesuit inflated. Returning to the ship, he realized that he could not pass through the lock, the inner diameter of which was only 1 meter.

At first, Alexei Leonov wanted to report what had happened to the headquarters on Earth, but decided not to waste precious time on this, because such situations had never arisen before, simply because he was the first cosmonaut to go into open space. Leonov made a decision that saved his life - he began to bleed oxygen from the spacesuit, thereby blowing it off. Gradually, the astronaut nevertheless returned back to the ship.

It was a victory! But, as always, trouble does not come alone. At first, Voskhod-2's orientation system failed, and Belyaev and Leonov had to steer the ship manually. Then, upon entering the Earth's atmosphere, the orbital module did not separate from the landing module. And until the connecting cable burned out, the astronauts rotated, experiencing an overload of up to 10G.

Due to all the technical difficulties, the landing took place far from the intended place. The team landed in the deep snowy taiga, 200 km north of Perm. At night the temperature reached -30 degrees. Rescuers reached the heroes only after 2 days.

It was a historic moment not only for the USSR, but for the whole world. The main pages of all newspapers were full of photos and stories about the achievements of Soviet cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev. Both were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 2017, Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov turned 83 years old. He lives in Moscow. All his life, until his retirement, he devoted to cosmonautics, and also became an artist: together with the science fiction writer A. Sokolov, he created a series of postage stamps on the theme “The History of Space”. Unfortunately, Pavel Belyaev died in 1970 from an illness. He was only 44 years old.

First American in outer space

The Americans lagged behind the USSR by 2.5 months. The first spacewalk by a US astronaut took place on June 3, 1965. It was NASA astronaut Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Edward White. The flight was made on the Gemini-4 spacecraft. A ship of this type did not have an airlock, so depressurization of the entire ship was required to enter the open space.

The Americans considered the start of the spacewalk the moment when the astronaut's head protruded beyond the spacecraft, even if the rest of the body was still inside. The end of the spacewalk was the moment when the astronaut was completely inside Gemini 4. Thus, Edward White spent 36 minutes in outer space. 2 years after this event, at the age of 36, the astronaut died in a fire during the test of the Apollo 1 spacecraft and was posthumously awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

Since then, astronauts have regularly made spacewalks to get work done outside the ship. Of course, such activity is risky. First of all, space debris poses a danger, a collision with which can cost the astronaut life or seriously damage the spacesuit. Dangerous and unintentional removal from the ship. To secure the work of space workers, scientists are working on the creation of robots that can perform actions outside the spacecraft without human intervention.

In astronautics, our country has always occupied a leading position: the first flight into space, the first spacewalk, the launch of the first artificial satellite of the Earth and the first artificial satellite of the Sun, even the launch of the first animal, the dog Laika, into space. All this is our history and our pride!

In 2017, in memory of the feat of Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev, a feature film was shot based on real events - "The Time of the First". The main roles in it were played by and. In the film, you can see not only the technical facts of the flight itself and its preparation, but also the personal experiences of the characters and their families. And once again admire the heroism and courage of the great cosmonauts who made an invaluable contribution to space exploration.

Portal for the student. Self-training

First man in outer space

First American in outer space

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