#First man on the moon date series
#First man on the moon date free

So the pair fired the craftвЂ™s re-entry rockets manually. However, the two cosmonauts discovered its automatic re-entry system no longer worked. Several hours passed before Leonov and Belyayev could get the craftвЂ™s oxygen levels back to normal.Д«y now, the spaceship was scheduled to return to Earth. At the same time, instruments showed oxygen levels in the capsule were now climbing at an alarming rate, threatening to trigger a blaze that would have burned both men alive. The explosion caused Voskhod 2 to rotate, disorienting its two crewmen. First, a charge was fired to blast the airlock вЂ“ which was no longer needed вЂ“ into space. Leonov slumped back in his seat beside Belyayev. Leonov squeezed himself headfirst through the airlock and just managed to close its hatch behind him, his temperature by now soaring through the extreme exertion of his return to the spaceship. вЂњI could feel pins and needles in my hands and legs,вЂќ he recalled. Very slowly his suit deflated, just as Leonov began to notice the first signs of decompression sickness. So he began bleeding air from his suit from a valve in its inner lining.

In five minutes, the cosmonaut realised he would be plunged into total darkness. Even worse, the craft was hurtling towards EarthвЂ™s shadow. His hands slipped out of his gloves, his feet came out of his boots, and Leonov could no longer get through his spaceshipвЂ™s airlock. In the vacuum of outer space, his spacesuit began to balloon out of shape and its fabric began to stiffen dangerously. LeonovвЂ™s spacewalk very nearly ended in disaster. Of course, I did not know that I was about to experience the most difficult moments of my life вЂ“ getting back into the capsule.вЂќ I also felt an incredible sense of responsibility. вЂњI was surrounded by stars and was floating without much control. вЂњIt was so quiet I could even hear my heart beat,вЂќ he told the Observer.

Leonov still remembers the utter silence he experienced when he emerged from his spaceship. He opened its hatch, slid out and floated into space to begin his mission. After completing one orbit, Leonov was given the go-ahead to begin his spacewalk and crawled into the craftвЂ™s makeshift airlock. On 18 March he was blasted into orbit in a two-man Voskhod capsule which he shared with his commander, Pavel Belyayev. Leonov, who had trained as a cosmonaut with Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was selected for the task. It had put the first satellite, the first animal, the first man, and the first woman into orbit and, knowing that America was planning to allow one of its astronauts, Ed White, to take a spacewalk in June that year, it decided to add another first to its list of space achievements by getting a Soviet cosmonaut to do an EVA before then. In 1965 the Soviet Union appeared to be well ahead of the US in the race to land the first humans on the Moon. Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, right, at an awarding ceremony in MoscowвЂ™s Kremlin. Leonov вЂ“ now 80 вЂ“ is scheduled to give a first-person account of his spacewalk, and other aspects of his career as chief cosmonaut for the Soviet Union, when he speaks at the Science Museum in London this month. It will tell a story that is every bit as dramatic as Apollo 13, the US lunar mission вЂ“ filmed with Tom Hanks вЂ“ that also came close to catastrophe.

#First man on the moon date series

Spacewalks can be dangerous, however, and LeonovвЂ™s own mission very nearly ended in disaster after it was afflicted by a series of mishaps that will form the core of a new film, First Time, scheduled for release in Russia next year. As Leonov told the Observer: вЂњIt is impossible to imagine the development of any serious space project or experiment without EVAs today.вЂќ

#First man on the moon date free

More than 200 astronauts вЂ“ floating free in space on extra-vehicular activity, or EVAs вЂ“ have since carried out tasks ranging from the repair of the Hubble space telescope to the construction of the international space station. It was an event of extraordinary importance вЂ“ for spacewalks have since become a mainstay of most major manned endeavours in Earth orbit.