Alexei Leonov to speak in London on May 21

The legendary cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to walk in space, will give a rare public talk in London on May 21, 2015. The venue will be the IMAX Theatre at the great Science Museum in London, just south of Hyde Park.

Here is press information from the British Interplanetary Society (BIS):

Date:  May 21, 2015
Start Time:  7 p.m. (doors open 6:30 p.m.)
Finish Time:  8 p.m.; book signing 8–9 p.m.
Venue:  IMAX Theatre, The Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD.

50 years after his death-defying first spacewalk, Alexei Leonov is to speak at an event hosted by Starmus and the British Interplanetary Society at the IMAX Theatre, The Science Museum, South Kensington, London at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, 2015.

In March 1965, Alexei Leonov stepped out of his Voskhod 2 spacecraft and into the history books as the first human to walk in space. His spacesuit became overinflated, and he could not get back into the capsule without deflating it, at the risk of his blood boiling. The return to Earth went wrong, stranding Alexei in a remote Siberian forest, where he survived freezing temperatures for two nights before skiing to the nearest point where a helicopter could land. He was then to have been the commander of the first Soviet Moon mission, canceled after the success of Apollo 11, but went on to command the Apollo-Soyuz mission linking Soviet and American spacecraft. He has come close to death many times, and the story of Alexei’s life — as an athlete, fighter pilot, artist, scientist, cosmonaut, world statesman — is one of breath-taking heroism, intelligence, integrity, and luck!

Tickets are £45 for BIS Members and £50 for non-members. Leonov will be signing copies of the book Starmus: 50 years of Man in Space, edited by Garik Israelian and Brian May, which can be obtained for £20 for BIS members, or £30 for non-members. You will be able to purchase the book that night for £30. To book your ticket and reserve your copy of the book, please click here.

Advance purchase Starmus: 50 Years of Man in Space, collect it at the event, and meet Alexei to get it signed in person!

Starmus: 50 Years of Man in Space (eds. Garik Israelian and Brian May) includes an illustrated contribution by Alexei Leonov.

Never before has such an ambitious series of talks, articles, and recollections been assembled to celebrate the human exploration of space. It is the result of the unique Starmus meeting in 2011 on Tenerife, where the legendary Russian and American pioneers of the space age met up for the first time to share the moments that electrified the human race. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Bill Anders, Yuri Baturin, Charlie Duke, Victor Gorbatko, Alexei Leonov, Jim Lovell, Claude Nicollier, and Sergei Zhukov tell their personal stories about the first space walk, the lunar landing, the heroic recovery of Apollo 13, the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope, and much more. Our discovery of the universe, our place within it, and the meaning of life on Earth also forged dramatic moments at Starmus through the presentations of some of the world’s leading scientists and thinkers such as Rich Goldman, Brian May, Jack Szostak, Richard Dawkins, Jill Tarter, Joseph Silk, George Smoot, Michel Mayor, Robert Williams, Adam Burrows, Garik Israelian, Kip Thorne, Sami Solanki, and Leslie Sage.

This volume was originally conceived to mark 50 years since Yuri Gagarin’s first spaceflight but is now equally dedicated to one of our greatest heroes in human history — Neil Armstrong, who passed away in 2012.

With an introduction by renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, Starmus: 50 Years of Man in Space celebrates the critical human moment we have lived — the first steps into outer space, the explosion of knowledge about our cosmos, and where it might all be taking us. It will become one of the seminal books of our era.