• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Space / Who Was the First Person To Walk In Space and When Did Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov Perform His Space Walk?

Who Was the First Person To Walk In Space and When Did Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov Perform His Space Walk?

February 11, 2020 by Karen Hill

On March 18, 1965, Alexei Leonov stepped out into space from his Vokshod 2 spacecraft, while his comrade Pavel Belyayev commanded the flight.

Leonov wore a space suit and was connected to Vokshod 2 by a tether and radio communication.

His space walk was successful, but Leonov’s space suit had expanded, and he was forced to reduce the air pressure inside it in order to fit back into the spacecraft.

Upon entering Earth’s atmosphere again, Vokshod 2 suffered malfunctions and reentry had to be carried out manually.

The cosmonauts could not rely on the automated reentry system but had to operate the spacecraft themselves, like parking a car when the engine and brakes aren’t working right.

It landed more than 600 miles (1,000 km) off course in a snow-covered forest.

The cosmonauts got out, built a fire, and spent the night in the cold before rescue teams reached them.

Related Facts

  • Who Invented the First Car and Where Did Cars Come From?
  • How did the Edsel get its name and Where did the Edsel come from?
  • Why Don’t Boats Have Gears and Why Does a Car Have a Gearbox To Help It Accelerate When Stationary?
  • History of Elevators
  • How many people have died on missions to outer space and have any floated away?
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed the World

Filed Under: Space

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Why Was the United States’ Pioneer Moon Program Abandoned and How Many Ranger Program Missions Failed?
Next Post: Who Built the Saturn Rockets For the Apollo Space Missions and How Many Stages Did Saturn Rockets Have? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy