- Born
- Died
- Birth nameAleksey Arkhipovich Leonov
- Height5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
- Aleksey Leonov is Soviet cosmonaut number 11, the first man who went into outer space. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1965, 1975). Was the eighth child in the family. He studied at the Kemerovo school. In 1947, the family moved to a new place of work of his father in the city of Kaliningrad. Leonov graduated from high school in 1953. In 1955 he graduated from the 10th Military Aviation School of Initial Pilot Training in Kremenchug. In 1957 Aleksey graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation School of Pilots. In 1960 he was enrolled in the first detachment of Soviet cosmonauts. On March 18-19, 1965, together with Pavel Belyayev, he flew into space as a co-pilot on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. During the flight, Leonov performed the first spacewalk in the history of cosmonautics, displaying exceptional courage, especially in an emergency situation, when the swollen space suit prevented him from returning to the spacecraft. In the years 1965-1969 in the group of astronauts Leonov participated in the preparation of the lunar flying and lunar landing programs. Together with O. Makarov, he was part of the first of the three crews formed in 1967 to fly around the moon. In 1968 he graduated from the Air Force Engineering Academy. In 1971 Leonov was the commander of the main crew of the Union-11. In 1975, July 15-21, together with V. Kubasov, made the second flight into space as a commander of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft. In 1970-1991, he was deputy head of the Cosmonaut Training Center. Leonov has 4 inventions and more than 10 scientific papers.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tango Papa
- SpouseSvetlana Leonova(? - October 11, 2019) (his death, 2 children)
- When the call came for cosmonaut candidates in 1959, Leonov was picked as one of the first 20 cosmonauts. He spent over 7 days in space aboard 2 spaceflights. Leonov was the eleventh cosmonaut in Soviet space history and the fifteenth person in space.
- Leonov was a fighter pilot before becoming a cosmonaut. He graduated with honors from Chuguyev Higher Air Force School in 1957. He then joined the Soviet Air Force units as a fighter pilot, becoming an expert parachutist and instructor of military air forces for paratroop training.
- The first man to "walk" in space on March 18, 1965, when he floated outside the spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 10 minutes, secured to the spacecraft by only a safety line. He pushed away from the craft and let himself drift 17.5 feet away before reeling himself back in. There were tense moments during the first of his two extravehicular activities when Leonov found his spacesuit too rigid to reenter the airlock. He bled air out of his suit and was able to fit back through the inflatable airlock capsule.
- Leonov was to be the Commander of the first Soviet Moon mission, which was cancelled when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969.
- On July 15, 1975, Leonov was commander of the Russian flight in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first linking of Soviet and American spacecraft. Leonov trained in Houston, where he learned to speak English fluently and made friends with everyone with his quick wit, humor, and charm. The Soyuz and Apollo crafts separated after approximately two days. The Soyuz craft was recovered on July 21, fewer than 10 kilometers away from its target point.
- [About the crisis during his first space walk:] There were many problems. One was impossible to test on Earth, namely, how would the space suit react in the vacuum of space? . . . I had to take a decision to lower the pressure inside the space suit, but by how much? Too much would have led to a boiling of blood in the body, which would have finished me off. But I had to do it. I didn't report this down to Earth. I knew the situation better than anyone else. [about the Apollo-Soyuz mission:]
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