First Spacewalk
Alexei Leonov floated in space for 12 minutes outside Voskhod 2
March 18, 1965
Floating Free
On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov opened the hatch of his Voskhod 2 spacecraft and floated into open space — the first human being to do so. He spent 12 minutes outside the craft, tethered by a 5-meter line, while travelling at 28,000 kilometers per hour above Earth. The moment was extraordinary, but it nearly ended in disaster.
The Near-Disaster Nobody Knew About
Leonov's spacesuit inflated in the vacuum of space, becoming so rigid he could not bend his fingers or fit back through the airlock. He had to secretly release pressure from his suit — risking the bends and possibly death — just to squeeze back inside. The Soviet government kept the near-fatal details classified for decades. The mission also suffered a computer failure during re-entry, forcing a manual landing 386 kilometers off target in a remote Siberian forest.
Why It Mattered
The spacewalk proved that humans could work outside a spacecraft — a requirement for any future Moon landing or space station. Every astronaut who has ever repaired a satellite, built the International Space Station, or conducted science experiments outside a craft owes that capability to Leonov's 12 terrifying minutes. He died in 2019, having lived long enough to see much of what his bravery made possible.