In our country and throughout the world, the name of cosmonaut Leonov is well known. Alexei Leonov was the first person in outer space to make video footage after leaving the spacecraft. In our article, we will tell you how it was and why he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for completing such a seemingly simple task. We will also tell you why Sergei Korolev chose him for this mission. The biography of Alexei Leonov is the fate of an ordinary Soviet person from the simplest family.
Childhood
Alexey Leonov was born in 1934 in the Siberian village of Listvyanka, which is located in the Kemerovo region. A large family, in which he was the eighth child, was engaged in peasant labor. His father, a railway electrician from the Donbass, after the end of the civil war, moved to Siberia to his father, the grandfather of the future cosmonaut, and began working as a livestock specialist. Mother settled in these places earlier. The grandfather of Alexei Leonov was exiled to these places for participating in revolutionary events.1905.
The father of the future cosmonaut, Arkhip Leonov, an intelligent man and hard worker, won respect among his fellow villagers and was elected chairman of the village council. The wave of repression did not bypass this family either. Father was repressed in 1936, but in 1939 he was reinstated and fully acquitted.
Little is known about Alexei's parental family and childhood. Let's hope he leaves behind a detailed book of memories.
In 1938, Alexei's mother moved to Kemerovo. There, when he grew up, he went to school. The first grader was nine years old.
In 1948, the family moved to a permanent place of residence in a new, western region of the Soviet Union. Kaliningrad became the hometown for Alexei Arkhipovich. His relatives still live there today. In one of the squares in the central part of the city, a monument was erected in honor of the conquerors of space. The street bearing the name of cosmonaut Leonov originates from it.
Profession - fighter pilot
Alexey Leonov's interest in flying was not accidental. His older brother, Pyotr Arkhipovich, was a toolmaker, an excellent specialist in his field. He willingly shared his knowledge with Alyosha.
Besides technology, Alexey Arkhipovich was fond of sports. He was engaged in fencing, cycling, javelin throwing and athletics. Has ranks. His interest in painting developed into a great talent.
Kaliningraders, personally acquainted with Alexei Arkhipovich, recall that he was a great guy - sociable, athletic, cheerful andkind.
Aleksey Leonov received his first flight education in Kremenchug, at a flight school. Then he studied at the Chuguev Higher School of Fighter Pilots, after which, in the late fifties, he flew combat aircraft.
The first detachment of astronauts
Sergey Korolev very carefully chose candidates for space flights. Alexey Leonov's track record, in addition to excellent performance from the duty station and excellent sports training, also included the landing of a MIG-15bis fighter aircraft in extreme conditions with a stalled engine. In the early sixties, he was accepted into the first, Gagarin, cosmonaut detachment, which consisted of twenty people.
Aleksey Leonov was perfectly prepared for the spacewalk. In addition to him, the cosmonaut corps included other, no less worthy candidates. These are Valery Bykovsky, and Pavel Popovich, and Viktor Gorbatko, and Vladimir Komarov, and Ivan Anikeev, and others. A total of 20 people. Technically, each of them could handle any simulated situation. S. P. Korolev chose Alexei Arkhipovich as the person who would be able to most accurately describe the impression of outer space. And I was not mistaken.
Despite the fact that the preparations for the spacewalk were worked out many times and in detail on the ground, it turned out to be impossible to foresee everything.
Trainings took place in special chambers where weightlessness was simulated. In accordance with the indicators of individual anatomy, as well as taking into account the air pressure inside the spacesuit andexpected external conditions, spacesuits were designed separately for each astronaut.
It was not possible to accurately simulate all the conditions of an environment unusual for the inhabitants of the Earth in laboratory conditions. For this reason, the first astronauts were at great risk.
The truth about the flight is a taboo for citizens of the USSR
Leonov's spacewalk can be seen in the documentary, which includes fragments taken by him on camera. The picture painted by him looks very impressive. This is an exact image of the ship, and next to it, in a spacesuit, is Alexei Leonov. A photograph of the painting is presented in this article. I must say that in Soviet times only the elite could see this canvas. The small size of the ship compared to its two passengers looks more than just impressive. They make you look at the pioneers of space as people of great courage.
Details of this event were classified in Soviet times. The population of the country should not have known about the miscalculations or mistakes of domestic science and the imperfection of technology.
The picture depicting Alexei Leonov, the first free-flight man in space, clearly shows that the size of the ship is so small that two people can hardly fit in it. There is no free space. Yes, it, based on the tasks assigned to the astronauts and the time they were in flight, was not necessary.
First flight, photography
In 1965Soviet spacecraft "Voskhod-2" flew around the Earth. The main goal was to test the capabilities of man and devices created on earth to perform work in an airless space. The crew of the ship - Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov.
Three years of pre-flight training and only 1 day, 2 hours, 2 minutes and 17 seconds of flight, and time in outer space - 23 minutes and 41 seconds. Alexei Leonov's spacewalk was accompanied by a distance of 5.35 meters from the spacecraft. It lasted 12 minutes and 9 seconds. The astronaut was connected to the ship by a cable equipped with hooks and loops. Re-fastening the hooks helped to approach or move away from the spacecraft to the desired distance.
The main task that Alexei Leonov had to perform in space was taking pictures with a video camera and a microphoto camera. The video turned out perfectly, as far as it was possible with the then state of the art. But it was not possible to take photographs from a microphotographic camera placed in a tiny, button-sized hole in the spacesuit. Due to the deformation of the suit, the cosmonaut could not pick up the cable that served as a button for the camera, and the pneumatic bulb that was put on its end came off during the exit from the airlock. She got caught on the manhole cover.
Space suit surprise
Aleksey's suit turned out to be not quite perfect. It was tested at the maximum possible difference in external and internal pressures, which can be simulated on Earth. It turned out to be too far from what takes place in space. pressure insidespace suit - 600 mm Hg. pillar, outside - 9 mm. As a result, he swelled up. The stiffening ribs and belts could not stand it. Legs and arms no longer reach the end of the sleeves and trousers. The suit has become an uncontrollable capsule in which a helpless person is imprisoned. Pavel Belyaev, the commander of the ship, saw what was happening with Leonov's suit, but could not help in any way. Aleksey Arkhipovich estimated that he had been breathing pure oxygen for about an hour, and nitrogen, which is present in the respiratory mixture on the ship, should have been washed out of the blood by this time. He made the decision to release the pressure inside the suit. This is prohibited by the instructions, but he saw no other way out. If nitrogen remained in the blood, it would boil, which meant death. There was no nitrogen, and Alexey Arkhipovich, catching and unfastening the rope hooks, got to the hatch.
Acrobatics in the airlock
The size of the airlock compartment hatch was smaller than required for the dimensions of the astronaut, whose shoulder width in space uniforms is 68 cm. Since the hatch opens inward, and the airlock diameter is 1 m, it is impossible to turn around in it. In order for Aleksey Arkhipovich to fit into it and hermetically batten down the hatches, it was necessary either to reduce the size of the hatch cover or to reduce the lodgement. Simply increasing the size of the ship was not possible. Aleksey Leonov himself was in charge of maintaining the internal size of the lock. The exit into space and return to the ship, the most rational sequence of actions, were carefully verified and repeatedly practiced on simulators. But study is study, and reality did not stint on surprises.
The astronaut entered the hatch not with his feet, as suggested by the more ergonomic one, but with his head. To batten down the hatch, it was necessary to turn the torso 180 degrees. The task, taking into account the size of the astronaut and the tightness of the airlock, is extremely difficult. Alexei Arkhipovich later recalled that by the end of this acrobatics, his pulse rate was 200 beats per minute, and sweat flooded his eyes in a continuous stream. Now it was necessary to separate the airlock, and you can return home to Earth. But it turned out that it was too early to calm down.
After the separation of the airlock compartment, the ship began to rotate around its axis, and the pressure inside began to grow. The astronauts could only look at the instruments. It was impossible to stop the process. They reduced the temperature and humidity on board as much as possible. The pressure continued to rise. The slightest spark - and they, along with the ship, would have been torn into molecules. At some point, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev passed out - either lost consciousness or fell asleep. Subsequently, when reading the instrument diagrams, it turned out that the pressure inside the ship, instead of the prescribed 160 atmospheres, reached the mark of 920 mm Hg, after which it began to spontaneously decrease.
The fact is that the ship, which was in a static position for about an hour, was deformed. One side of it was heated by the Sun to +150 degrees Celsius, while the other, which was in the shade, cooled down to -140 degrees. As a result, the ship was closed leaky. Automation worked to compensate for oxygen leakage. In the end, the pressure became so high that it pressed down on the hatch cover from the inside. The seal was restored, and the instrumentsreceived an appropriate signal to relieve excess pressure. A jet of air from the outside of the ship gave it a rotational motion.
Stopping the rotation was, as they say, a matter of technique, that is, it was not difficult. There was one more task ahead - landing.
Emergency landing
It is believed that takeoff and landing are the most complex processes in the control of a spacecraft. Voskhod-2 landed in manual control mode. Instead of the planned point near Kustanai, he plunged into the one and a half meter snow of the deaf Ural taiga, 200 km from Perm. The story of the rescue of astronauts from taiga captivity deserves a separate chapter. Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev spent two nights wrapping themselves in the skin torn from the inner surface of the ship, warming up by the fire, and Alexei Arkhipovich doing physical exercises, pulling himself up on the parachute lines caught on the tops of pine trees. They had a food supply - freeze-dried meat, chocolate, biscuits and cottage cheese with cherry juice.
After the astronauts were found, and this happened four hours after landing (this was helped by the bright orange dome of a kilometer-long parachute, the flight of which was seen by residents of nearby settlements), they were thrown off warm clothes and food, but rescuers got to the pilots failed. For evacuation, it was necessary to organize a place for a helicopter landing. A team of lumberjacks arrived with chainsaws and cleared the clearing.
Idol and faith
Alexey Leonov recalls that Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, designer of Soviet spaceships, the creator of the space industry in science and industry, a cynic, pessimist and skeptic, who perceived the present and future life only in gloomy colors, was more than a father for the astronauts. He was their god.
I must say that the Soviet spacecraft in terms of reliability and safety significantly surpassed the ships of competitors - the United States. Since the beginning of space exploration during training and flights, our country has lost five astronauts, while the Americans have buried 17 astronauts. The reason for our tragedies is the so-called human factor. Technique never failed.
Valentin Bondarenko died during tests for psychological stability in conditions of solitary existence. This happened at the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine as a result of a fire in the pressure chamber. Vladimir Komarov died during landing - the parachute did not open. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev died from depressurization of the ship during landing.
Crashed flight
The second flight of Alexei Leonov was to take place in June 1961. The crew consisted of three cosmonauts - Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov and Pyotr Kolodin. Shortly before the scheduled launch day, the medical commission found that Valery had a slight blackout in his lungs. It was decided to send a backup crew. For the first it was a tragedy: Peter never flew into space, but for the understudies it was a lucky break. The flight program was executed brilliantly. During entry into the atmosphere,trouble. The astronauts opened the containment valve by mistake.
The ship made a soft landing in the planned area, but people could not be saved. They were Viktor Patsaev, Vladislav Volkov and Georgy Dobrovolsky.
Second flight
Alexey Leonov has been in space twice. The first flight took place in March 1965. Alexei Leonov went into outer space once. His assessment is that one can live and work in space.
The second time he visited there was in July 1976. Work in orbit continued for 5 days, 22 hours, 30 minutes and 51 seconds. It was an international project. The goal is the docking of modules and scientific experiments. The Soviet Soyuz-19 with Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov and the American Apollo with three astronauts - Thomas Stafford, Donald Slayton and Vance Brand flew into space.
Painting talent
Thanks to the artistic talent of the astronaut, all of humanity was able to find out what the world looks like outside the earth's atmosphere, because at that time, images in space were obtained only in black and white. Until now, space photography presents certain difficulties. This is due to other than on Earth, requirements for the resolution of optics, a kind of propagation of light rays, a different refraction.
The uniqueness of the artist Alexei Leonov is that he reproduced the technical features of space technology and the astronaut's suit on his canvases with engineering accuracy. And the sharp look of the painter determined which shades of the spectrum are present inspace landscapes.
Aleksey Arkhipovich participated in the creation of postage stamps on the theme of space. On each of them - the present and future of astronautics. They are very interesting to look at. Take a look at the photo. Alexei Leonov can be reckoned among the realists who are able to foresee the future, because what he depicted did not exist in those years.
Life on Earth
Aleksey Arkhipovich flew into space twice. He was awarded two stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union, the Orders of Lenin and the Red Star, medals of our country and abroad, and is an honorary citizen of thirty Russian and foreign cities.
One of the lunar craters bears his name, as well as the planet of the constellation Libra.
Aleksey Leonov, Major General of the Reserve Aviation, devoted his whole life to space. He graduated from the Air Force Engineering Academy. N. E. Zhukovsky, including postgraduate studies. Alexey Arkhipovich has been training cosmonauts and developing space equipment for a long time. He owns research in the field of visual perception of color and light characteristics after space flight, the perception of space and time in space, the psychological problems of interplanetary flight, as well as other scientific and experimental work.
He is married with a daughter and two grandchildren.
Beginning of the third millennium
Currently, cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov lives in Moscow. Last year, 2014, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin presented him with the Order of Meritto the Fatherland III degree. This was how the 80th anniversary of the cosmonaut was celebrated, who all his life worked hard and fruitfully for the good of his Motherland. He will forever remain in our memory as a man who made a huge contribution to space exploration and science, and as an artist who showed people the world beyond the earth's atmosphere. The person on the example of which the younger generation can and should be educated is, of course, Aleksey Leonov. His biography is incredibly interesting. You can read about his space epic in the book by A. S. Eliseev “Life is a drop in the ocean”. Several documentaries have also been made about him.
