Initially an illustrator enrolled at the Academy of Arts in Riga, Alexei Leonov joined the Chuguyev Air Force School in Ukraine where, by the late 1950s he had graduated as a qualified parachute instructor, continuing his artistic pursuits in his spare time.
By March 1960, he was selected for cosmonaut training. At this point in the space race, Russia had exhibited mastery over the US, having put the first satellite, man, woman, and animal into orbit before America. Leonov’s spacewalk was in direct competition to America’s plans to reach the milestone with Astronaut Ed White.
Leonov was eventually selected to fly on the Voskhod 2 mission, a two-person expedition aimed at getting the first Soviet on the moon ahead of the US during the space race. Alongside fellow Cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev, the Voskhod 2 mission took place on 18 March 1965.
Leonov, tethered to his spacecraft with a 16ft cable, left his capsule and floated for 12 minutes, a first for mankind and a monumental progression in Russia’s space program against the West.
It was during this spacewalk where Leonov had a brief stroke with death. The cosmonaut’s suit ballooned due to an increase in pressure, heavily restricting his movement and preventing him from re-entering the airlock of the spaceship.
Dangerously, he bled the air from his suit, causing him to suffer from a severe case of decompression sickness. Voskhod 2 crash landed in the Siberian Forests of the Ural Mountains, only to be found two days later by a search party.
Leonov continued his career as a prominent cosmonaut and was twice awarded Russia’s top decoration: Hero of the Soviet Union.
His passion for artistry came full circle when he created the first artwork in space during the spacewalking mission; a brief but poignant sketch of a sunrise, using a handful of colored pencils. The sketch was exhibited in 2015 at London’s Science Museum.
Alexei Leonov passed away on 11 October 2019, 54 years after the first spacewalk.