The First Spacewalk - terrific story of terror

[Phoenix]

Wow!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_9035/index.html

(found from: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/terrifying-story-first-person-walk-193103609.html )

The Terrifying Story Of The First Person To Walk In Space — And How He Almost Didn't Make It Back



BBC Alexei Leonov making his historic, and extremely dangerous, spacewalk on March 18, 1965.
Before the movie "Gravity," before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, even before Edward Higgins White became the first American to take a walk in orbit — there was Alexei Leonov.

Nearly 50 years ago, on March 18, 1965, cosmonaut Leonov became the first person to ever walk in outer space. The Soviet cosmonaut's spacewalk represented a great leap for humankind, as well as a significant one-up in the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the US.

But this triumphant tale of human ingenuity obscures the far more complex and fascinating story of how Leonov's spacewalk, and his return to Earth, nearly cost him his life, he told the BBC in an amazing feature.


Everything started to go wrong for Leonov almost immediately upon leaving the Voskhod 2 spacecraft that carried him and his pilot, Pavel Belyayev, into orbit.




.... what an incredible read, especially the full article from BBC above...

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

I know this is incorrect but there is part of me that believes men back then were cut from a different square of cloth. They had to be brave, have nerves of steel and be in top physical condition. Hats off to them regardless of country of origin.

 

[kimrose]

Excellent article! Excellent. Very scary indeed what these men went through, especially Mr. Leonov. It is a long article, but very much worth the reader's time. I wish my dad were still alive. He would have loved it. Thanks for sharing it, Phoenix.

 

[burmafrd]

I know this is incorrect but there is part of me that believes men back then were cut from a different square of cloth. They had to be brave, have nerves of steel and be in top physical condition. Hats off to them regardless of country of origin.

I think more was expected of you back then; and therefore you were expected to step up.

Now.....