A rare color still image of Alexei Leonov’s first spacewalk, taken March 18, 1965. // Credit: YouTube
Yesterday, our tour group scrambled from Iceland to the Faroe Islands, hopeful to view Friday’s total solar eclipse, despite some grim weather predictions.
As we traveled, the world of spaceflight marked a hugely important anniversary.
On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first ever human spacewalk, venturing outside his space capsule for 12 minutes during the Voskhod 2 mission. As has been written about many times, Leonov had a difficult time squeezing back into the space inside the spacecraft.
This event marked a watershed moment in the history of human exploration of our universe.
Please think about this moment, and its 50th anniversary, for a time today. This great man is still with us, vital and full of energy, and is a great world figure in science and space exploration. Proudly, he shares his wisdom with us at the Starmus Festival and is on the Starmus Board of Directors.
This is a momentous anniversary for all of us who love the universe and the quest to explore.
You can see a rare 1-minute long clip of the spacewalk
here.
Let’s treasure its memory.