Fifty years ago Soviet astronaut Aleksey Leonov made a spacewalk for the first time in history

On Wednesday, March 18, marks the 50th anniversary of the first human spacewalk.
 

The first astronaut in the world, who walked out into space, Aleksey Arkhipovich Leonov was born on May 30, 1934 in the village Listvyanka of Tisulskiy District in Kemerovo Region, RSFSR.

 In 1957 he graduated from Chuguev Military Aviation School for Pilots (MASP) and three years later he was enrolled in the first team of Soviet astronauts.
 

 Leonov made two space flights with a total duration of seven days 33 minutes and 8 seconds. For displayed courage he was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
 

On March 18-19, 1965 Aleksey Leonov went into space as a co-pilot of the spacecraft "Voskhod-2" together with Pavel Belyaev. During the flight he made the first in the history of space exploration spacewalk lasting 12 minutes 9 seconds.
 

 In November 2012 Aleksey Leonov became an honorary doctor of SSAU. Leonov told about that famous flight at a meeting with the University staff and students.
 

On the eve of the launch a rocket exploded, and Sergey Pavlovich Korolev suggested the astronauts to suspend the mission for six months. This meant that the first man walk into space would become a US citizen.
 

 Aleksey Leonov and Pavel Belyaev decided to fly. The spacewalk could result in tragic consequences for Leonov - the astronaut’s space suit greatly inflated and to return to the spacecraft Leonov had to reduce the pressure to a level dangerous to human life. In addition, according to Aleksey Arkhipovich the astronauts managed to land only thanks to his intuition that told him in the earth to calculate the switching points of engines during deorbiting.
 

 "The automatic orientation system failed before landing - said Aleksey Arkhipovich. - Pavel Belyayev, the first pilot of the spacecraft "Voskhod-2" manually oriented the spacecraft and turned on the brake engine. As a result, "Voskhod" landed in the taiga 180 km north of Perm. There was no choice; taiga was as soft lawn for us. When a partner came out of the spacecraft, he fell into the snow bank with his head. We tried to contact via telegraph key, but the signal did not reach to Moscow. We were waiting for the rescue team for two nights and they came only on the third day. And meanwhile in the country was announced that we have rest. There could not be any mistakes."