First to open the door to the cosmos, and the first to draw it from inside
"It was so quiet I could even hear my heart beat. I was surrounded by stars and was floating without much control." — the first human to walk in space, 18 March 1965.
A Siberian miner's son, Leonov became the first human to walk in space on 18 March 1965, floating outside Voskhod 2 for twelve minutes, and nearly dying when his suit ballooned so badly he had to bleed oxygen to squeeze back into the airlock. He was also the first artist in space, sketching an orbital sunrise with coloured pencils tethered together in weightlessness. A decade later, as commander of Soyuz 19, he led the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (the first US-Soviet docking in orbit) and forged a lifelong friendship with American commander Thomas Stafford. From 1976 to 1982 he served as deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and chief cosmonaut, overseeing the next generation. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union and a major general of aviation, he produced over 200 space-themed paintings across a life that fused exploration with art.
Career Timeline
- 1957Graduated Chuguev Air Force Pilots School; fighter pilot
- 1959Assigned to reconnaissance regiment, Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
- 1960Selected to first cosmonaut group (alongside Yuri Gagarin)
- 1965.3.18Voskhod 2: first spacewalk in history, 12 min 9 sec
- 1968Selected as first Soviet Moon-landing commander; program cancelled
- 1971Soyuz 11 prime crew commander; replaced on medical grounds — backup crew all died on reentry
- 1975.7Soyuz 19 commander: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, first US-Soviet docking
- 1976–1982Deputy director, Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center; Chief Cosmonaut
- 1991Retired as Major General of Aviation
- 2002–2019Member, Supreme Council of United Russia party