The fighter pilot who commanded the first spacewalk
The automatic guidance was dead. Belyayev lay across the seats, sighting through the Vzor navigator, and oriented the capsule by hand. Leonov held him in place. It was the first fully manual reentry in the history of spaceflight.
A Pacific Fleet fighter pilot, Belyayev was the oldest candidate (thirty-four) and highest-ranking, a major, when the first cosmonaut group formed in 1960, making him its inaugural commander. On March 18, 1965, as commander of Voskhod 2, he oversaw Alexei Leonov's historic first spacewalk, then performed the first fully manual reentry in spaceflight history when the automatic guidance failed, lying across the seats to use the Vzor navigator. The capsule overshot by 2,000 kilometres into the Perm taiga, where he and Leonov spent two subzero nights before rescue. Made a Hero of the Soviet Union, he later directed Soyuz training but died of peritonitis after ulcer surgery in 1970 at forty-four.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1945Pacific Fleet fighter pilot; Soviet–Japanese War
- 1959Air Force Academy graduate; Black Sea Fleet squadron commander
- 1960Selected for first cosmonaut group; first corps commander
- 1965.3.18–19Voskhod 2 commander: first spacewalk and manual reentry
- 1966–67Directed Soyuz and Almaz program training
- 1969Head of 1st Directorate, Cosmonaut Training Centre
Related historical events
Voskhod 2: Return and Manual Reentry
On March 19, 1965, Voskhod 2’s automatic guidance system failed to orient the spacecraft for its return. The planned retrofire was aborted, and Belyayev was instructed to align the spacecraft manually and fire its retrorocket. Wearing spacesuits, the cosmonauts found it difficult to use the control panel and Vzor orientation periscope. With Leonov’s help, Belyayev lay across the couches to check the alignment through the periscope. It took longer than expected to get back to the controls, so the engine fired late and the spacecraft landed about 2,000 kilometres beyond its intended landing zone, in a snow-covered forest near Perm. The two men spent a cold night in the capsule before rescuers reached them. The return was an early instance of a crew carrying out a manual reentry and shows that the mission’s outcome depended not only on automated equipment but also on the crew’s piloting and improvisation.