Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (1934-2019) - Soviet pilot-cosmonaut, the first person in history to go into outer space, artist. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union and Major General of Aviation. Member of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party (2002-2019).
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Alexei Leonov, which we will tell about in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of Alexei Leonov.
Biography of Alexei Leonov
Alexey Leonov was born on May 30, 1934 in the village of Listvyanka (West Siberian Territory). His father, Arkhip Alekseevich, once worked in the mines of Donbass, after which he received the specialty of a veterinarian and animal technician. Mother, Evdokia Minaevna, worked as a teacher. Alexey was the eighth child of his parents.
Childhood and youth
The childhood of the future astronaut can hardly be called joyful. When he was barely 3 years old, his father was subjected to severe repression and was recognized as an "enemy of the people."
A large family was kicked out of their own home, after which neighbors were allowed to plunder her property. Sr. Leonov served 2 years in the camp. He was arrested without trial or investigation for a conflict with the chairman of the collective farm.
It is curious that when Arkhip Alekseevich was released in 1939, he was soon rehabilitated, but he and his family members had already suffered enormous damage both morally and materially.
When Arkhip Leonov was in prison, his wife and children settled in Kemerovo, where their relatives lived. An interesting fact is that 11 people lived in a 16 m² room!
After the release of his father, the Leonovs began to live relatively easier. The family was allocated 2 more rooms in the barracks. In 1947 the family moved to Kaliningrad, where Arkhip Alekseevich was offered a new job.
There Alexey continued his studies at school, which he graduated in 1953 - the year of Joseph Stalin's death. By that time, he had already shown himself as a talented artist, as a result of which he designed wall newspapers and posters.
While still a schoolboy, Leonov studied the devices of aircraft engines, and also mastered the theory of flight. He received this knowledge thanks to the notes of his older brother, who was studying to be an aircraft technician.
After receiving the certificate, Alexey planned to become a student at the Riga Academy of Arts. However, he had to abandon this idea, since his parents could not provide for his life in Riga.
Cosmonautics
Unable to get an art education, Leonov entered the Military Aviation School in Kremenchug, which he graduated in 1955. Then he studied at the Chuguev Aviation School of Pilots for another 2 years, where he was able to become a first-class pilot.
During that period of his biography, Alexei Leonov became a member of the CPSU. From 1959 to 1960 he served in Germany, in the ranks of the Soviet army.
At that time, the guy met the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center (CPC), Colonel Karpov. Soon he met with Yuri Gagarin, with whom he began a very warm relationship.
In 1960, Leonov was enrolled in the first detachment of Soviet cosmonauts. He, along with the other participants, trained hard every day, trying to get the best form.
After 4 years, the design bureau, which was headed by Korolev, began to build the unique spacecraft Voskhod-2. This device was supposed to allow astronauts to go into outer space. Later, the management chose the 2 best candidates for the upcoming flight, which turned out to be Alexei Lenov and Pavel Belyaev.
The historic flight and the first manned spacewalk took place on March 18, 1965. This event was closely watched by the whole world, including, of course, the United States.
After this flight, Leonov was one of the cosmonauts who were trained for a flight to the moon, but this project was never implemented by the leadership of the USSR. Alexey's next exit into the airless space took place 10 years later, during the famous docking of the Soviet Soyuz 19 spacecraft and the American Apollo 21.
The first spacewalk
Special attention in the biography of Leonov deserves his first spacewalk, which may well have not been.
The fact is that the man had to go outside the ship through a special airlock, while his partner, Pavel Belyaev, had to monitor the situation through video cameras.
The total time of the first exit was 23 minutes 41 seconds (of which 12 minutes 9 seconds outside the ship). During the operation in Leonov's spacesuit, the temperature rose so much that he developed tachycardia, and sweat literally poured down from his forehead.
However, the real difficulties were ahead of Alexei. Due to the difference in pressure, his spacesuit swelled greatly, which led to limited movement and an increase in size. As a result, the astronaut was unable to squeeze back into the airlock.
Leonov was forced to relieve pressure in order to reduce the volume of the suit. At the same time, his hands were busy with the camera and the safety rope, which caused a lot of inconvenience and required good physical fitness.
When he miraculously managed to get into the airlock, another trouble awaited him. When the airlock was disconnected, the ship was depressurized.
The astronauts were able to eliminate this problem by supplying oxygen, as a result of which the men became oversaturated.
It seemed that after that the situation would improve, but these were far from all the tests that befell the Soviet pilots.
It was planned that the ship should begin to descend after the 16th revolution around the Earth, but the system malfunctioned. Pavel Belyaev had to manually control the apparatus. He managed to finish in just 22 seconds, but even this seemingly small time interval was enough for the ship to land 75 km from the designated landing site.
The cosmonauts landed about 200 km from Perm, in the deep taiga, which greatly complicated their search. After 4 hours of being in the snow, in the cold, Leonov and Belyaev were finally found.
The pilots were helped to get to the nearest building in the taiga. Only two days later they were able to be delivered to Moscow, where not only the entire Soviet Union, but the entire planet was waiting for them.
In 2017, the film "Time of the First" was filmed, dedicated to the preparation and subsequent flight into space of "Voskhod-2". It is worth noting that Alexei Leonov acted as the main consultant of the film, thanks to which the directors and actors were able to convey the feat of the Soviet crew in the smallest detail.
Personal life
The pilot met his future wife, Svetlana Pavlovna, in 1957. An interesting fact is that the young people decided to get married 3 days after they met.
Nevertheless, the couple lived together until the death of Leonov. In this marriage, 2 girls were born - Victoria and Oksana.
In addition to aviation and astronautics, Alexei Leonov was fond of painting. Over the years of his creative biography, he wrote about 200 paintings. On his canvases, the man depicted cosmic and earthly landscapes, portraits of various people, as well as fantastic subjects.
The astronaut also liked to read books, ride a bicycle, practice fencing and go hunting. He also enjoyed playing tennis, basketball and photographing.
In recent years, Leonov lived near the capital in a house that was built according to his project.
Death
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov died on October 11, 2019 at the age of 85. Shortly before his death, he was often ill. In particular, he had to operate on his toe due to progressive diabetes mellitus. The true cause of the death of the astronaut is still unknown.
Over the years, Leonov has won many prestigious international awards. He received his Ph.D. in technical sciences, and also made 4 inventions in the field of astronautics. In addition, the pilot was the author of a dozen scientific papers.
Photo by Alexey Leonov
