Human Spacewalk Day

The world's first manned flight into Earth orbit, which took place on April 12, 1961, opened a new era in the history of space exploration Yuri Gagarin accomplished a real feat, setting off with a smile on his face to meet the unknown Almost 4 years later, the second most important event occurred - a man left the Polet-2 ship into airless space This was done on March 18, 1965 by 31-year-old Alexey Leonov, who responded to the call sign “Almaz-2” The ship's commander was pilot Pavel Belyaev He was considered the most experienced pilot among those included in the first cosmonaut squad, but had unsatisfactory health indicators and was in line for expulsion Yuri Gagarin personally insisted on Belyaev’s participation (call sign “Almaz-1”) in the flight Leonov spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds in airless space The flight is still considered one of the most difficult and intense in the history of Soviet cosmonautics After him, superstitious pilots stopped taking call signs with the names of stones The difficulties that arose during the execution of tasks do not detract from the enormity of the event Therefore, March 18 is celebrated annually as Human Spacewalk Day The competition between the two superpowers during the Cold War was manifested not only in the participation of the Soviet Union and the United States in the arms race America and the Soviet Union invested enormous resources in the development of space technology Each country fought for primacy in the development of airless space Having come to terms with Yuri Gagarin's flight, the United States decided to take revenge by sending astronauts on April 28, 1965 on an important mission - to perform a spacewalk But the USSR managed to get ahead of the Americans, thwarting their plans Leonov's exit into space was to be carried out through a 2-meter training gateway The tightness of the inflated original, suspended from the side of the ship, was checked on the eve of departure on Earth for 24 hours The soldier guarding the facility was bored and playing with the latch with which the airlock was secured to the winch From the next click, the camera for going into space broke and burst The designers and engineers of Polet-2 urgently installed a training airlock on board The launch of the spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and Leonov’s exit into airless space took place as usual The pilot soared in space, moving away from the ship at a distance of up to 5 meters, and even made several somersaults Belyaev, who was watching his partner from the ship, reached the control center: “Everything has been done according to plan Almaz-2 is preparing for entry” But then the unexpected happened - Leonov’s spacesuit swelled from excess pressure, becoming very rigid The pilot could not enter the airlock feet first, as required by the instructions Without reporting the emergency to the Mission Control Center, Leonov reduced the pressure by 2 times - to 027 atmospheres There was no time to wait for a response from the Mission Control Center - in 5 minutes the ship was supposed to fall into the shadow of the Earth and plunge into pitch darkness for an hour The suit deflated slightly and the astronaut squeezed into the airlock head first To get on the ship, Almaz-2 needed to turn around in a narrow compartment This maneuver increased Leonov's pulse to 190 beats per minute, and his body temperature rose so much that the pilot could suffer heatstroke Without waiting for the hatch to be closed and the airlock to be completely sealed, the cosmonaut took off his pressure helmet, once again violating the instructions 15 hours of experiment in outer space cost Leonov a loss of 6 kg of weight The episode with the spacesuit was not the last in a series of tragic accidents During the descent to Earth, the shooting of the pipe occurred very abruptly - a strong impact spun the ship in 2 planes The braking motor did not turn on automatically; the stabilization and spatial orientation systems failed Belyaev decided to land Polet-2 manually The oxygen concentration in the cabin was 6 times higher than the norm, so the slightest spark from the operation of the instruments could cause a fire The descent in the cabin without the help of automation was practically uncontrollable Instead of the Kazakh steppes, the ship landed on March 19 in the taiga of the Kama region The astronauts, having climbed out of the cabin, were greeted not by the MCC workers, but by the Ural frosts Leonov and Belyaev lit a fire to keep warm while special teams and volunteer skiers searched for them throughout the taiga The helicopter that discovered the pilots could not take them on board due to the lack of a suitable site The cosmonauts spent the night from March 19 to 20 before meeting with the search engines in the taiga forest The heroes received a warm welcome in Perm and honors and awards in Moscow Speaking to the state commission with a report on the results of the flight, A Leonov made the shortest report in history: “You can live and work in outer space”