Aleksander Leonow

lexei Arkhipovich Leonov was born on 30 May 1934 in Listvyanka, West Siberian Krai, Russian SFSR. His father was an electrician and miner. Leonov was a Russian cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. Leonov graduated from secondary school in 1953. Leonov decided to join a Ukrainian preparatory flying school in Kremenchug; he made his first solo flight in May 1955. While indulging in his passion for art by studying part-time in Riga ( He began his art career by drawing flowers and later painted landscapes on canvasses ), Leonov started an advanced two-year course to become a fighter pilot at the Chuguev Higher Air Force Pilots School in the Ukrainian SSR.

He was one of the 20 Soviet Air Forces pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut training group in 1960.[9] As most 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 Voskhod 1 mission, but this was cancelled, and the historic event happened on the Voskhod 2 flight instead.[10] He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds on 18 March 1965, connected to the craft by a 4.8-metre (16 ft) tether.[9] 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.[9] 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.[9][11] Leonov had spent eighteen months undergoing weightlessness training for the mission.

He was one of the 20 Soviet Air Forces pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut training group in 1960. His walk in space was originally to have taken place on the Voskhod 1 mission, but this was cancelled, and the historic event happened on the Voskhod 2 flight instead.

On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds, connected to the craft by a 4.8-metre 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 eighteen months undergoing weightlessness training for the mission. He was also selected to be the first Soviet person to land on the moon, however the project was cancelled.

Leonov's second trip into space was as commander of Soyuz 19, the Soviet half of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission, which docked in space for two days with an American Apollo capsule — 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 1992.