Painting depicting cosmonaut Alexei Leonov performing the first-ever spacewalk. Leonov used a special inflatable airlock to exit the capsule of Voskho

---

Painting depicting cosmonaut Alexei Leonov performing the first-ever spacewalk. Leonov used a special inflatable airlock to exit the capsule of Voskhod 2 whilst his companion, Pavel Belyayev, remained inside. The spacewalk took place over the Ukraine and Caucasus mountains, and lasted 10 minutes. The umbilical cable seen here carried oxygen to Leonov, and acted as his lifeline. Voskhod 2 was launched on 18 March 1965, returning to Earth after 17 orbits and a total time of 26 hours. The failure of one retro-rocket led to a landing 2,000km off-course. This painting was made by artist Andrei Sokolov and cosmonaut Leonov.

---

Size: 2513px × 3640px
Photo credit: © A.SOKOLOV & A.LEONOV/ASAP/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2, 18, 18th, 1965, alexei, cosmonaut, flight, leonov, manned, march, program, programme, race, russian, soviet, space, spaceflight, spacewalk, voskhod, walk