Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man who walked in space, is dead

The Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, first man to go out into space In 1965, commander of the first joint space mission of the former USSR and the United States, he died this Friday at the age of 85 years.

On March 18, 1965, Leonov was the first man to "take a step towards the unknown and he found himself face to face with unlimited space, "according to the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmosin a statement.

On that occasion, he walked cautiously between two and three meters from the Ship Vosjod-2, an operation that seemed very difficult. Blinded by the sun, despite his dive, he remained firmly attached to the cabin by a cable of 5.35 meters long.

"See, I'm trying," he said as he left. The operation lasted about twenty minutes in total, of which ten were spent outside the Vosjod.

The walk started when the boat he flew over the Black Sea and Leonov, "shot down like a cork, began to" leonovize "", term coined from his last name and describing the human situation when it is in space .

From there, the problems started, the worst being linked to a increased pressure on the combination the Leonov space, which has significantly increased its dimensions.

Following the instructions, the cosmonaut first tried to enter through the hatch with his legs forward, but at the height of the thighs he got stuck because the space suit had swelled.

The situation was critical: Leonov inside the suit could no longer use his hands, the oxygen reserves only rose to half an hour and there were five minutes remaining ship so that it can cross the dark part of the Earth, that is to say, stay almost time in absolute darkness.

"Without consulting anyone, I've almost doubled the pressure, things are more or less returned to their place, I grabbed the end of the hatch and headed for the lock, "he told the press several years ago.

Leonov was also commander of the Soviet party in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission, the first conducted jointly by the two rivals of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States, was also plunged into a space race. The mission marked the beginning of a cooperation that continues today.

The cosmonaut was also a close friend of the first man to have traveled in space, his compatriot Yuri Gagarin. When he died in a plane crash on March 27, 1968, near Moscow, he was one of the first to leave.

President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the people's relatives "cosmonaut number 11". The president said that he still respected "deeply Leonov", a "great man" who praised "his courage," said the Kremlin. The director of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, described it as: "true legend".

The US NASA space agency has declared itself "saddened" by the death of this "legendary" cosmonaut, whose mission "ushered in the adventure of extravehicular activities that allows today's maintaining the International Space Station (ISS) ".

Leonov will be buried on October 15 at the Mitischi Federal Military Cemetery in the Moscow region.