The first man's exit into outer space: date, interesting facts

In March 1965, a space mission was held.the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. Before the crew in the cosmonauts PA. Belyaeva and A.A. Leonova stood a difficult, but very important task - to implement the first ever man's exit into outer space.

Immediate implementation of the experimentfell to the lot of Alexei Leonov, and on March 18 he successfully coped with it. The cosmonaut went out into outer space, retired from the ship for 5 meters and held beyond it a total of 12 minutes and 9 seconds.

Flight "Sunrise" was not without freelancesituations and curious cases. It is difficult to describe how many mental and physical forces had to be spent by people who were preparing this grandiose experiment - the man's exit into open space. Interesting facts and little-known details of the flight and its preparation became the basis of this article.

Idea

The thought that the man's exit into outer spaceis possible, appeared at the Queen in 1963. The designer suggested that soon such an experience would not only be desirable, but absolutely necessary. He was right. In the following decades, cosmonautics developed rapidly. For example, maintaining the normal operation of the ISS in general would have been impossible without external assembly and repair work, which once again proves how necessary was the first man's exit into outer space. The year 1964 was the beginning of the official preparations for this experiment.

But then, in 1964, in order to realizeso bold a project, it was necessary to seriously consider the design of the ship. As a result, the well-proven "Voskhod-1" was taken as a basis. One of its portholes was replaced by an exit gateway, and also reduced the number of crew from three to two. The airlock itself was inflatable and was located outside the ship. After the experiment was over, before landing, it had to separate itself from the hull itself. So the spaceship "Voskhod-2" appeared.

There was another, more serious problem. Such a dangerous experiment had to be worked out first on animals. However, this was abandoned, considering that the development of a special spacesuit for an animal - it is too troublesome and expensive. Besides, he would not give an answer to the most important question: how will man behave in open space? It was decided to conduct experiments at once on people.

Today, astronauts are able to leave the ship for several hours and conduct in the open space very complex manipulations. But in the 60s it seemed to be a perfect fantasy or even suicide.

Crew

Initially, in a group of cosmonauts preparing forflight, consisted of Leonov, Gorbatko and Khrunov. Belyaev was on the verge of deduction from the cosmonaut detachment for health reasons, and only at Gagarin's insistence he was included in the group preparing for the flight.

As a result, two crews were formed: the main - Belyaev, Leonov - and the backup - Gorbatko, Khrunov. The crews of this expedition had special requirements. The team had to work as one whole, and the cosmonauts - to be compatible with each other from the point of view of psychology.

The test results showed that Belyaev possessesgreat endurance and coolness, can not lose his head in any situation, and Leonov, on the contrary, impulsive, impulsive, but at the same time extraordinarily brave and brave. These two people, so different in character, could work perfectly in pairs, which was a prerequisite for making the first man's exit into outer space.

Training

The cosmonauts studied the first three monthsdesign and devices of the new ship, followed by long training in zero-gravity conditions. This required a maneuverable aircraft and a very experienced pilot who could confidently perform aerobatics figures. Over a one-hour flight, the aircraft was able to simulate zero-gravity for a total of about 2 minutes. It was during this time that the cosmonauts had to work out the entire planned program.

Initially, they flew on MIG trains, but tiedThe cosmonauts were deprived of the possibility to move by straps. It was decided to take a more spacious Tu-104LL. Inside the plane, a model of a part of the spaceship with a lock chamber was installed, on this improvised simulator, and basic training took place.

Uncomfortable suits

Today in the museum of astronautics you can see thatthe most space suit in which Leonov made a man's exit into outer space. A photo of a smiling cosmonaut wearing a helmet with the inscription "USSR" flew all the newspapers of the world, but no one could guess how much effort this smile cost.

Specially for "Voskhod-2" were developedSpecial suits, which bore the terrible name "Berkut". They had an additional hermetic shell, and behind the astronaut's back was a satchel with a life support system. For a better light reflection, even the color of the spacesuits was changed: instead of the traditional orange one, white was used. The total weight of the "Golden Eagle" was about 100 kg.

All the training was already in the spacesuits,the system of provision of which left much to be desired. Air supply was very poorly produced, and therefore, with the slightest movement, the cosmonaut immediately became covered with perspiration from perspiration.

In addition, the suits were very uncomfortable. They were so dense that in order to squeeze the hand into a fist, it was required to make an effort of almost 25 kilograms. To be able to do any kind of movement in such clothes, he had to constantly train. The work was on wear and tear, but the cosmonauts stubbornly walked to the cherished goal - to make possible the man's exit into open space. Leonov, incidentally, was considered the strongest and hardiest in the group, which in many ways predetermined his main role in the experiment.

Demonstration performance

In the midst of training in Moscow, a largefriend of the USSR Charles de Gaulle, and Khrushchev decided to boast before him the success of Soviet cosmonautics. He decided to show the Frenchman how the cosmonauts work out the man's exit into open space. It immediately became clear that the actual crew would be sent to the real flight, which would participate in this "presentation". By order of Gagarin at this crucial moment Khrunov was replaced by Belyaev. According to Khrunov's memoirs, he did not understand the motives for this substitution and for a long time retained his resentment for Gagarin for this inexplicable act.

Later, Gagarin explained to Khrunov his position, hebelieved that it was necessary to give Belyaev the last chance to fly into space. Young Khrunov could do this afterwards more than once, besides, Belyaev was better suited to Leonov from a psychological point of view.

Trouble before the start

The day before the start, a big trouble happened. Due to the negligence of the security soldier, the inflatable airlock hung from the ship to check the tightness suddenly fell and tore. There was no spare, so it was decided to take advantage of the one on which cosmonauts had been training for a long time. This incident could prove fatal, but, fortunately, everything worked out, the repeatedly used gateway withstood, and the first man's exit into outer space successfully took place.

Going out into space

Concerning human behavior in outer spacethere were many theories. The ill-wishers asserted that the astronaut, who stepped outside the spaceship, immediately welded to him, would be deprived of the opportunity to move or even go completely mad. It is very difficult to imagine what else a person's appearance in outer space can turn out to be. 1965 could easily become the year of the grandiose failure of the Soviet space program. However, only practice could confirm or deny these pessimistic theories.

In addition, at that time, no rescue systems had been developed. The only thing that was done for astronauts is permission in case of something just open the hatch and put a hand out of it.

When the ship entered the given orbit, Leonov began to prepare for the exit. Everything went according to plan, when the hour of X came, the cosmonaut gently pushed away and swam out of the airlock into the open space.

The worst predictions of skeptics have not come true, andthe cosmonaut felt quite decent. He fulfilled the entire prescribed program, and it was time to return to the ship. With this, some problems arose. Blown in a weightless space suit did not let Leonov enter the airlock. Then he, without consulting with anyone, independently lowered the pressure in the spacesuit and rushed into the lock with his head forward, and not vice versa, as planned. The first man's exit into outer space was completed, and Alexei Leonov forever inscribed his name in the history of space exploration.

Emergency on the descent

"Voskhod-2" had many shortcomings, and aftersuccessful completion of the flight program occurred PE. When the exit gate was fired, the sensors of the solar-stellar orientation were fixed. When the ship made its 16th turn around the Earth, the MCC received an order to decrease. But the ship continued to fly, as if nothing had happened. When he went to the 17th round, it became clear that the automatic orientation system did not work, and the crew had to switch to manual control. The flight, the main task of which was the man's exit into outer space, could end in a catastrophe.

At the cost of incredible efforts Belyaev and Leonovregained control over the ship, but still missed the engine shutdown for almost a minute. As a result, the planned landing site was left far behind and the launch vehicle landed in the deaf Perm forest.

Rescue operation

Astronauts remained in the winter forest for a long two days. True, one helicopter still tried to throw off their warm clothes, but missed, and the parcel got lost in snowdrifts.

The helicopter could not land in deep snowamong the trees, and the cosmonauts did not have the necessary equipment either to cut the trees, nor to pour snow on the water and make an improvised ice landing pad. Eventually, the rescue team reached the frozen cosmonauts on foot and was able to get them out of the forest thicket.

Despite all the difficulties of preparation and unpleasantincidents in the process of flight, Belyaev and Leonov coped with their main task - they made a man's exit into outer space. The date of this event became one of the most significant milestones in the history of Soviet cosmonautics.