In 1965, the United States of America planned to carry out the first spacewalk by an astronaut. The Queen was informed that the launch of an American cosmonaut with a spacewalk was scheduled for April 28, 1965, but Soviet Union managed to get ahead of them!

March 18, 1965 at 10.00 Moscow time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launched spaceship"Voskhod-2" to work under the program of the first exit in the world in outer space with a crew consisting of the commander of the ship, Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev (1925-1970), with the call sign "Almaz-1", and the co-pilot, Major Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov (born in 1934), with the call sign "Almaz-2". As a result of the daily flight on the ship "Voskhod-2" P.I. Belyaev and A.A. Leonov covered a distance equal to 717262.01 kilometers and stayed in space while on the ship for 26 hours 02 minutes 17 seconds. In domestic practice, this was the most difficult and intense space flight. This flight of "Diamonds" was so dramatic that since then astronauts have not taken call signs with the names of stones.

Proposals for getting out of the ship appeared in December 1963 and were formalized by Government Decrees of April 13 and June 14, 1964. A special ship was created for this flight, called Voskhod-2. The main difference between Voskhod-2 and Voskhod-1 was the presence of an airlock for an astronaut to enter outer space and return to the spacecraft. The chamber communicated with the cabin with a hatch with a sealing cover, which opened inside the pressurized cabin both automatically using a special electrically driven mechanism, and manually. The drive was controlled from the remote control. A hatch in the upper part of the lock chamber, equipped with a sealing cover, which could also be opened both automatically and manually, served as an exit for the astronaut into outer space. The airlock housed two film cameras for filming the process of the astronaut entering and exiting the chamber, the lighting system, and the assemblies of the airlock system. Outside, a movie camera was installed for filming an astronaut in outer space, cylinders with an air supply to pressurize the lock chamber, and cylinders with an emergency supply of oxygen. The lock control was to be carried out by the commander of the ship from the console installed in the cockpit. If necessary, the control of the main locking operations could be carried out from the console installed in the lock chamber.

For the exit of the astronaut from the ship into outer space, a special spacesuit "Berkut" was developed, which has a multilayer hermetic shell-package, consisting of a power and two hermetic (main and reserve) shells, with the help of which excess pressure is maintained inside the spacesuit, ensuring the normal life of the astronaut. Unlike those previously used, this spacesuit was equipped with screen-vacuum thermal insulation and a light filter to protect the cosmonaut from the thermal effects of sunlight on the outside. The removable spatial helmet of the spacesuit had double hermetic glazing made of organic glass and a protective filter, which provide the astronaut with sufficient visibility and protect the eyes from exposure to sunlight. The helmet porthole opened. The helmet's helmet is made of aluminum alloy. The internal cavity of the helmet is separated from the rest of the suit by a sealed curtain. Both crew members were equipped with spacesuits so that the spacecraft commander could, if necessary, provide assistance to the astronaut who went into outer space. The suits were supposed to protect the crew in the event of cabin depressurization. The system of ventilation and emergency pressurization of spacesuits in the cockpit was similar to the system used on the Vostok ships, but was designed for the simultaneous operation of two spacesuits. This suit was used only during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft.

The life support system of the Voskhod ship was designed for 10 days. An astronaut working in open space has 520 X 320 X 120 mm in his back pack. there was an autonomous life support system (ALS) of a ventilation type, designed for 30 minutes of operation with duplication of oxygen supply from the gas supply available in the lock chamber. The satchel was attached to the spacesuit using a special suspension system. The supply of oxygen was stored in three eight-liter cylinders at a pressure of 22 MPa. Its inclusion was carried out by a locking-starting device before dressing the knapsack. All oxygen from the ASF was supplied to the helmet, after which it fell under the suit shell and was then ejected through the absolute pressure regulator into environment. The supply of oxygen to the suit was switched on remotely. The oxygen consumption from the knapsack was designed to provide pressurization of the spacesuit, oxygen supply to the astronaut, and removal of carbon dioxide. The flow rate was automatically adjusted depending on the absolute pressure in the suit. The cosmonaut's insurance in outer space was provided by a special 7-meter-long halyard (outside the ship - 5.35 meters), which included a shock-absorbing device, a steel cable, an emergency oxygen supply hose and electrical wires through which medical and technical data were transmitted to the ship. measurements, as well as telephone communication with the commander of the ship.

This craft was provided with a soft landing system that allowed the astronauts to land without ejection.

The crew of the ship consisted of two people and was selected with great care. The ship's commander, Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev, was the most experienced pilot in the first cosmonaut detachment: he joined it at the age of 35 from the position of squadron commander, having managed to fight in the sky over Japan in 1945. Aleksey Arkhipovich Leonov was the best in the cosmonaut detachment to endure training in a pressure chamber and centrifuge, was more suitable than others in terms of its physical and moral-psychological data. To prepare for the flight, a group of cosmonauts was initially selected, consisting of: V.V. Gorbatko, A.A. Leonov and E.V. Khrunov. Participation of P.I. Belyaev was not planned at first - for health reasons, he was on the verge of expulsion. It was included later, at the insistence of Yu.A. Gagarin. In January 1965, V. Gorbatko, upon the discovery of a cardiac systole, was replaced by D. Zaikin.

Preparations have begun. The first three months were engaged in the study of structures - we went to Zhukovsky to the base of the LII named after M.M. Gromov and in Tomilino to the Zvezda plant, where they mastered the lock chamber and spacesuit. They worked on the pressurization of the spacesuit from 0.4 atm with a transition to 0.27 atm, in order to perform actions (open and close the visor, control on-board systems) in case the cabin depressurized, and the exiter practiced exit operations. This was carried out, as it was then called, “dry”, i.e. on the ground. Later, they completed four weightless flights on MiGs (on a spark), but the cosmonauts tied to the seat could not do anything. Then they decided to use the Tu-104LL aircraft for this and practiced the same actions in zero gravity in 24 seconds (about 10 slides were made in one flight). Instead of seats in the cabin, a half of the cabin of the descent vehicle with an airlock docked to it was reinforced. E. Khrunov and A. Leonov began to work out a phased locking: they untied themselves from the chair, locked, got out, separated from the lock, soared in the reverse order, alternating during flights, then one, then the other. All training was already in spacesuits. A small satchel on his back, the life support system was very weak. Ventilation in a spacesuit is 20 liters per minute, i.e. move a little - and all wet. Despite this, the leadership was constantly in a hurry, however, why and to whom this was needed - they never explained. As a result, space suits and gloves, airlock and control systems, and everything in general had to be worked out by the astronauts themselves. At the very beginning of working out the spacesuits, the hands quickly got tired. To squeeze a hand in a glove, it was necessary to apply a force of 20–25 kg. Therefore, they had to constantly train. True, A. Leonov had a very strong hand, and if E. Khrunov squeezed 60–65 kg, then Leonov - 90. The pressure in the spacesuit was 0.4 atm. On Earth it was impossible to lower Atmosphere pressure, therefore, in order to stiffen the spacesuit, it was necessary to inflate it by 1.4 atm.

The training continued until the beginning of March 1965. The final training took place on Chkalovskaya in the large chamber SBK-80, where the mock-up itself and the current simulator of the lock chamber were located. The cosmonauts were lifted "to a height" (about 30 km), sitting in the mock-up from the control panel, they opened the airlock, checked the tightness, pressurized, opened the passage hatch, etc. The first it was conducted by the main crew, and a day later - understudies. This final training session was attended by S.P. Korolev, M.V. Keldysh, S.M. Alekseev and others.

March 1965 turned out to be extremely cold, there was no feeling of the onset of spring at all. Snow covered not only the sands of the desert, but also the structures of the entire launch complex. Early on the morning of March 17, the rocket and spacecraft were taken out of the MIK and installed on the launch pad. Belyaev, Leonov and Khrunov after breakfast moved to the 2nd platform and settled in the cosmonauts' house. They lived and worked according to the schedule of the prelaunch day. At 16:00 at the start, fifty meters from the rocket, the Voskhod-2 crew met with the launch team and industry representatives. Belyaev performed calmly and well, while Leonov was very worried. He said: "... I am worried not because tomorrow I will have a difficult space flight, but because it is difficult for me to find words of gratitude to all of you, comrades, to all those who created the rocket, ship, equipment, who prepared us for flight..." The rally was attended by 600-700 people, including Korolev, Keldysh, Rudenko, Tyulin, Kerimov, Pravetsky, Ishlinsky, Pilyugin and dozens of other prominent representatives of space cooperation. After the rally, when all the flight leaders gathered in Korolev's office, Tyulin began to call Moscow to report to Smirnov, Ustinov, Kosygin and Brezhnev on behalf of the State Commission about the readiness to launch Voskhod-2 tomorrow at 10:00 Moscow time. The first two were at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, and the assistants to Kosygin and Brezhnev said that they were no longer at work, and recorded this message.

Before the start there was trouble. The fully assembled ship stood on the stocks, and next to it on the winch, fixed with a latch (“dog”), there was a two-meter airlock, inflated, suspended with the hatch down. Thus, it was checked during the day for tightness. The soldier left by Korolev to guard the “object” slapped the latch with his finger in order to have nothing to do. After another blow, the latch pops up, the airlock falls and breaks. And there is no spare. There is only one on which the astronauts trained. They put him on the ship.

At 7:30, a pre-launch meeting of the State Commission was held at the start. At 8:30 am, Korolev, Tyulin, Rudenko and others observed the process of donning spacesuits. At 9:20 we met the crew at the rocket. Hugs, handshakes, kisses - and now the astronauts are climbing into the ship. Belyaev behaved calmly, while Leonov was visibly agitated. Korolev, Kirillov, Shabarov, Gagarin remained at the rocket until the 10-minute readiness, and then moved to the bunker. The launch was excellent, but the first 40 seconds of the flight seemed especially long (in the event of an accident, it is almost impossible to save the crew before the 40th second). Yes, and all 526 seconds of launching the ship into orbit were full of worries, it was not for nothing that the non-smoking Korolev, after counting the 530th second, took a cigarette with trembling hands and lit up.

The ship entered the specified orbit with the following parameters: maximum altitude 497.7 kilometers, minimum altitude 173.5 kilometers, orbital period 90.944 minutes, the speed of the ship when passing the orbit point with the maximum altitude above the Earth's surface on the first orbit was 7.31, with the minimum altitude - 7.70 kilometers per second. So, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft reached its maximum height of 497.7 kilometers. And this meant that his crew set an absolute world altitude record. Prior to this, not a single manned spacecraft aircraft wasn't that high. This flight turned out to be a record for the number of emergency situations, there were seven in total.

As soon as Voskhod-2 began free flight in space on the passive leg, A.A. Leonov, together with the commander of the ship P.I. Belyaev began to prepare for an experiment on entering outer space. At 11 hours 28 minutes 13 seconds, at the beginning of the second orbit, the ship's lock chamber was completely depressurized. At 11 hours 32 minutes 54 seconds, the airlock hatch opened, and at 11 hours 34 minutes 51 seconds, cosmonaut A.A. Leonov left the lock chamber into outer space. For the first time, a man left the ship and ended up in outer space.

The spacewalk through the gateway did not cause any difficulties - it began over the Black Sea and ended over Sakhalin. Everything started well, according to plan. With a fall-rope attached to his knapsack, Alexei approached the open hatch of the airlock. Pavel Belyaev, using a television camera and telemetry, followed the work of his friend and was ready, if necessary, to provide him with the necessary assistance. Being on the edge of the Almaz-2 airlock, he did not speak, but shouted: "Dawn-1", I - "Almaz-2". I'm on the edge of the gateway! I'm on the edge of the gateway! Feeling great. Below me I see clouds, the sea. The Caucasus Range has now passed. I start doing the task. He was the first to see space with billions of stars not from the porthole of the ship, but through the light filter of the spacesuit. These were moments of excitement and joy. Seconds of intoxication with singularity and beauty.

Almaz-1: Lyosha, remove the cap from the camera lens! Remove the camera lens cap!
Almaz-2: Removed, removed the lid!
Almaz-1: I see!
Almaz-2: I see, I see the sky! Earth!
"Almaz-1": Man went into outer space! The man went into outer space! Free float!…

At this time on Earth, Sergei Korolev felt a breath hold - as if pricked in his heart. A minute later, the pain recurred ... Leonov went into space for 20 minutes, of which 12 minutes was at a distance of 5.35 meters from the ship, for the full length of the halyard - Alexei moved away from the ship just above the Caucasus. Belyaev maintained continuous contact with him and, in a friendly way, with great excitement and tension, gave advice rather than commands to Alexei Leonov, who was faced with a mission that no one in the world had carried out before him. From the ground, his exit was watched on television. He smoothly "floated" in space, waved first with his left, and then with his right hand, turned over on purpose several times, moved away and approached the ship. He was seen against the background of the Earth, 3-5 meters from the ship. How much joy there was in those minutes both on Earth and in space! Then there was a short report to Earth:
- "Dawn"! Belyaev reported. - Everything is done according to plan. "Diamond-2" is preparing to enter.

After the experiment was completed, unforeseen circumstances arose. Leonov pulled himself up to the edge of the hatch. The instruction prescribed to "enter" feet first. Aleksey tried, but he couldn't squeeze into the airlock. He tensed, moved his legs - a hopeless number. It was only now that he felt and realized that the spacesuit "exceeded" the expected dimensions - it swelled out of proportion, became more rigid. It became impossible to penetrate the hatch in this form. It was also risky to exert excessive force, and besides, there was no strength for this. "I'm finished," Leonov thought calmly, but his heart was about to burst out of his chest. "The end, the stupid end!
- Lyosha, what do you have? Belyaev asked in a strange voice.
- Damn it, I can't get in.
- Why? What's stopping you?
- Spacesuit...

Five minutes remained before entering the Earth's shadow. Contrary to the instructions, without reporting the emergency to Earth, he switched to the second mode of operation of the spacesuit, dropping the pressure in it not to 0.5 atmospheres, but to 0.27 atm, in order to reduce rigidity. Leonov tried the "reverse option", i.e. not with your feet, but with your head forward. At 11:47, he squeezed into the ship's airlock, closed the outer hatch and began to turn around, since you only need to enter the ship feet first. There is no other way - the cover of the internal hatch, which opens inside the ShK, ate 30% of the space. During this turn, the load increased to the maximum. The pulse reached 190. In a perfectly healthy person, the temperature jumped and there were fractions of a degree before heat stroke, the astronaut's eyes were filled with sweat. At 11 hours 51 minutes 54 seconds, after the hatch was closed, pressurization of the lock chamber began. And as soon as the manhole cover was closed, Leonov, blinded by sweat, was forced to take off his pressure helmet without waiting for confirmation of complete sealing. "Almaz-2" crawled into the cockpit, pulled the camera in and exhaled heavily. In an hour and a half of the experiment, Alexei Arkhipovich lost six kilograms.

Alexei Leonov was out of the ship in outer space for 23 minutes 41 seconds. According to the provisions of the International Sports Code, the net time spent by a person in outer space is calculated from the moment he appears from the airlock chamber (from the edge of the exit hatch of the ship) to the entrance back into the chamber. According to these conditions, A.A. Leonov was in open space outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes 09 seconds.

After returning to the cockpit, A.A. Leonov together with P.I. Belyaev continued to carry out the experiments planned by the flight program. The cosmonauts carried out biomedical research, solved problems of space navigation, observed and studied the Earth's atmosphere, and so on.

On the seventh orbit, Belyaev slept, and a radio communication session took place with Leonov. Leonov reported: "The state of health is excellent, the ship makes one revolution in 20-40 seconds, this does not bother us, all the parameters of the ship are normal." During the first seven orbits of the flight, communication with Voskhod-2 was excellent via VHF and satisfactory via HF.

On the 13th orbit, the pressure in the pressurization cylinders of the ship's cabin dropped sharply from 75 to 25 atm. A further fall could lead to a complete depressurization and forced landing. The chief designer ordered to carefully look at the telemetry: maybe there is a digital error? But the fears were confirmed. We decided to automatically launch the ship. Before that, it was necessary to shoot the lock chamber. The crew tied themselves to their seats and gave the command to shoot the lock chamber pipe - after turning on the detonating cord, a strong blow occurred, which spun the ship in two planes. Off-design angular accelerations occurred, which disabled the orientation and automatic stabilization systems. During this operation, the solar-stellar orientation sensors "stuck". "Diamonds" did everything that was supposed to be in emergency conditions. They knew that at the command from the Earth, the braking propulsion system (TDU) should be automatically switched on. But there were no signs of turning on, although on the 16th orbit from the Earth the orientation and descent program was turned on. The TDU did not turn on, because the ship's orientation did not pass. The earth also knew that the automatic descent had failed. On the 17th orbit, the leadership is waiting for them below, but they do not try to descend, i.e. the auto-orientation system does not work. Yuri Gagarin, then deputy. head of the TsPK, calmly conveyed on board the order of the technical flight director: to land the ship manually on the 18th or 22nd orbit.

After that, the "oxygenation" of the atmosphere in the ship began - for unknown reasons, there was a six-fold oversaturation of the cabin with oxygen. The instrument showed that the partial pressure of oxygen had risen to 460 mm. The slightest spark in the contacts when switching toggle switches could cause a fire and explosion. But the astronauts were lucky: nothing sparked, nothing was short. Doubly lucky - the depressurization valve worked. Fortunately, they were in spacesuits.

At the end of the 18th orbit on March 19, 1965 at 11:19:00 P.I. Belyaev manually turned on the orientation system, then put the brake propulsion system into action. P.I. Belyaev had to land the spacecraft manually for the first time in the world. In cramped conditions, forced to leave the pilot's seat due to the incorrect orientation of the ship, Pavel Belyaev managed, by "rudder by touch", to bring the ship to the landing trajectory. The manual orientation of the ship on the Earth was carried out with the help of the VSC ("optical eye" of the ship). While they were clarifying the accuracy of their orientation, they were 45 seconds late with turning on the engine, so they flew to Perm. They barely fit into the landing window, the descent was almost uncontrollable. Landing in a given area, that is, in the Kazakh steppe, was out of the question. The question stood like this: it would be nice to get into your own country, and not into the jungles of Vietnam or the African desert.

The descent in manual mode also took place with great tension. The Earth received data on the passage of commands for descent rather quickly from the Ilyichevsk steamer, but then for a quarter of an hour there was no information about the astronauts.

They undocked the engine - unsuccessfully: the cable did not disconnect. The cabin and engine connected by him began to rotate like a dumbbell. In the end, the cable managed to shoot. In 30 minutes of descent, the speed of the ship dropped from 7600 meters per second to 200, the flight altitude - from 435 km to 10, the deceleration temperature on the surface of the ship was 5-10 thousand degrees.

The stabilization of the descent ship came to 7 kilometers, at this time the parachute hatch was fired, first the brake parachute was thrown out of it, then the main one.

At this time, a signal was received at the command post of one of the units of the Ural Military District to urgently turn on all radar equipment. From a higher command post from Sverdlovsk, they aimed at a possible landing of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft:

Cosmonauts Belyaev and Leonov are landing. Possible landing in your area: Detect, conduct, provide all kinds of assistance!

A space object was rapidly rushing from the southwest to the Perm region. Experts had no doubts - this is Voskhod with "diamonds" on board. And then the minute segments broke off. Under the last notch of the locator, the height was large: 40 km, 30 km, 20 km ... In a matter of seconds, the mark on the indicator increased in size and stopped motionless. We measured the height - the device showed seven thousand meters, the parachute of the descent vehicle opened. Then the mark disappeared from the screen - the ship smoothly descended to the ground. At a height of 1.5 meters from the ground, the soft landing system (due to the solid propellant engine) worked on the descent vehicle, the landing overload decreased from 8 to 3 times. The landing speed during a soft landing was 2-3 meters per second. The ship landed smoothly. Later, in a TASS report, the landing time was precisely named: March 19, 1965 at 12:02 Moscow time.

The fact that a spacecraft might land in the north of the region was learned in Perm when it began the de-orbit maneuver. This information was received from Moscow from Ustinov by the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU, Konstantin Ivanovich Galanshin. Immediately, Boris Vsevolodovich Konoplyov, then chairman of the Perm Regional Executive Committee, ordered to stop flying over the region to ensure safety. The ship landed in the former Solikamsk region, 15-17 km from the village of Kurganovka - this is the only thing that was known at that time. Residents of the Kama region heard a TASS message broadcast by announcer Levitan: - "... Today, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft landed in the Perm region. Cosmonauts Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev and Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov feel fine..."

But this was not true - by this time the fate of the astronauts was still unknown. Four An-2 aircraft and military helicopters were lifted into the air. Detachments of skiers-volunteers rushed from different directions to search for astronauts in the taiga - later they even had to create special detachments to search for the lost "search engines". Searches became focused only after receiving information from helicopter pilots who discovered the parachute canopy. The search groups formed in Perm were personally led by B.V. Konoplev, who arrived by car in the Kurganovka area, where the headquarters of military search engines was located, along with young volunteers. True or not, they say that geologists from oil exploration N 4, in Berezovka, Usolsky district, were the first to orient themselves. Alexander Leontich Sadnov says: “Of course, we are sitting in our control room in Berezovka Usolskaya. The cards were scattered on the table. I have all the telephone operators I know, so we quickly figured out where they sat down. latitude, 55 degrees 28 minutes 0 seconds east longitude. Suddenly they call from Berezniki - where do you get the maps from, where do you get such accurate data from? Where are the cards from? We, geologists, cannot do without the General Staff maps. And the coordinates were transmitted - not secret, rectangular, but geographical, that is, open ... Our phone, you see, was tapped. Well, they turned it off, of course, in no time. And our engineer, Evgeny Alexandrovich Nikulin, a former sailor, took three S-100 tractors, a bulldozer and set off to clear the road. Four days later, all overgrown, satisfied with this, arrives. Then the military moved in. In the villages - Kurganovka, Fortieth, they ate everything under the whisk. After all, dump trucks transported flour in bags to the villages. They handed out according to their conscience - who used how much flour "- indeed, food disappeared very quickly in the village shops, and soon the villagers ran out of food. And in the houses there was poverty ... Collective farmers went in bast shoes! Journalists who had gathered in Kurganovka were strictly forbidden to take pictures local residents. Apparently they thought that bast shoes and space are not compatible. In this regard, it is interesting to recall that it was bast shoes that were presented to the astronauts during their arrival in Perm on March 9, 1968.

To be continued... See the end here:

On April 6, shortly before Cosmonautics Day, the film "The Time of the First" will be released on the big screen, telling about the flight of cosmonauts Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, during which for the first time in history a man went into outer space. The return of the heroes to Earth was difficult, and now, in the pursuit of profit, the last memory of him is being erased.

52 years ago, on March 19, 1965, the legendary landing of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft took place. During the flight, cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev mastered the technology of entering open space. Leonov in a spacesuit went through the airlock and found himself in free flight outside the ship. With great difficulty, he managed to return back, as the suit was swollen and did not allow him to climb through the airlock exit.

However, the difficulties of the flight did not end there. Due to a failure of the automatic landing system, the descent took place abnormally, the ship landed in the taiga, 180 kilometers north of Perm. The astronauts had to live in the forest for two days, and the first day - together, without the help of rescuers.

After the successful rescue of the astronauts from the taiga in March 1965, the spacecraft and all the equipment were removed. The Voskhod-2 descent vehicle can now be seen at the RSC Energia Museum in Korolev.

To mark a memorable event, the administration of the Usolsky district Perm region decided to erect a monument at the landing site. Workers made a titanium stele, which was placed in the taiga in 1968. In 1999, the monument was stolen by hunters for non-ferrous metals, and it was never found. Later, a more modest black stone memorial was placed at the landing site.

A new metal memorial stele was installed closer to civilization - in the city of Usolye, on the banks of the Kama reservoir.

The theft of the monument is not the only hardship the historic site has had to endure. As satellite imagery data showed, the impenetrable taiga, in which the astronauts found themselves in 1965, was almost completely cut down by 2016.

Long-term data from Landsat satellites show how the forest has been systematically cut down since the 80s of the last century. Moreover, the Soviet lumberjacks deliberately left a section of the taiga around the landing site of the spacecraft. When the felling continued in the 2000s, the memory of the space feat did not stop. By 2016, a very small piece of the former thicket remained there.

Now spruce and birch young stands aged 10–30 years are opening up.

You can get to the landing site on your own, but this will require a prepared SUV or snowmobiles. The local administration plans to build a better road and actively develop tourism at the site of the famous landing.

Soviet manned spacecraft. For the first time in the world, an astronaut stepped out of the cockpit of a spacecraft into outer space.

Flight preparation

After the first successful flight of the Voskhod-1 multi-seat spacecraft, the next goal was set - the implementation of the astronaut's exit into open space. The mission was an important milestone in the Soviet lunar program.

The ship "Voskhod-2" was modified in comparison with the ship "Voskhod-1". The Voskhod-1 spacecraft had a crew of three cosmonauts. The cabin of the ship was so cramped that the astronauts made this flight without spacesuits. The Voskhod-2 ship had two places for astronauts, and the Volga inflatable airlock was installed on the ship. During the launch, the lock chamber was in a folded state, in this state it had dimensions: diameter - 70 cm, length - 77 cm. The weight of the lock chamber was 250 kg. In space, the airlock inflated. Its dimensions in the inflated state were: outer diameter - 1.2 meters, inner diameter - 1.0 meters, length - 2.5 meters. Before the spacecraft deorbited and landed, the lock chamber fired back from the spacecraft.

In July 1964, a crew was appointed to fly on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. Main crew: Pavel Belyaev - commander and Alexei Leonov - pilot, backup crew: Viktor Gorbatko and Evgeny Khrunov. Later, Dmitry Zaikin was also involved in preparing for the flight.

For spacewalks, the NPO Zvezda created a special Berkut spacesuit. EVA training was carried out in the Tu-104 aircraft. In the cabin of the Tu-104, a life-size model of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was installed. The training took place during a brief state of weightlessness, which occurred during the flight along a parabolic trajectory.

On February 9, 1965, it was finally decided that Belyaev and Leonov would go into space, Zaikin and Khrunov would be backups. Gorbatko was considered a substitute.

Before the start, only Belyaev, Leonov and Khrunov put on spacesuits. That is, in fact, just before the start, only Evgeny Khrunov was an understudy, who was prepared to perform the functions of both commander and pilot, and, if necessary, could replace either Belyaev or Leonov.

Airlock chamber of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft and space suit for spacewalk

Technical details

• Ship mass: 5682 kg
• Perigee: 167 km
• Apogee: 475 km
• Orbital inclination: 64.8°
• Orbital period: 90.9 min
• Distance covered: 717.330 km

Flight

Voskhod-2 was launched on March 18, 1965 at exactly 10 am Moscow time from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

Immediately after entering orbit, already on the first orbit, the airlock was inflated. Before leaving, both cosmonauts were in spacesuits. Belyaev was ready, in case of unforeseen circumstances, to help Leonov return to the ship. The spacewalk began on the second orbit. Belyaev opened the hatch into the lock chamber from the control panel. Leonov in a spacesuit moved into the airlock. Belyaev closed the hatch behind him and began to depressurize the chamber. At this time the ship was over Egypt. At 11 hours 32 minutes 54 seconds Belyaev opened the outer hatch of the lock chamber, Alexei Leonov remained in space vacuum. At 11 hours 34 minutes 51 seconds, Leonov swam into the airless space. Five times Leonov moved away from the ship and returned to it. Leonov was connected to the ship with a halyard, the length of which was 5.35 meters. Leonov sailed over the Black Sea, over the Caucasus Range, over the Volga, over the Irtysh, over the Yenisei. The pressure in the cosmonaut's spacesuit was kept constant and equal to 0.4 atm., which ensured the normal functioning of the body, but did not allow the spacesuit to become too rigid. The hermetic shell protected the astronaut from ultraviolet radiation, radiation, large temperature differences, ensured normal temperature conditions, the desired gas composition and humidity of the environment.

At 11:47 a.m., Leonov returned to the lock chamber. At 11 hours 48 minutes 40 seconds, the outer hatch of the lock chamber was closed and after three minutes air was blown. The exit ended when the ship flew over Yakutia.

Alexei Leonov in outer space.

Postal block USSR Voskhod-2. Triumph of the Land of the Soviets, 1965. The image of the ship does not correspond to reality

Two television cameras were installed on the outer surface of the ship, which transmitted the image to Earth.

In free flight, Leonov was 12 minutes and 9 seconds, after which he returned to the airlock. The return to the airlock was complicated by the fact that Leonov's spacesuit was greatly swollen. Only after Leonov reduced the air pressure inside the spacesuit, he was able to pass into the airlock.

The landing of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was supposed to take place after 17 turns in automatic mode, but the automation did not work. The ship made another orbit around the Earth. On the next orbit, the ship's commander, Pavel Belyaev, switched the ship to manual control. Due to the fact that the seats of the astronauts in the Voskhod spacecraft were rotated 90 degrees relative to the control panel, manual control of the spacecraft was impossible if the astronauts were fastened in the seat "in the landing way." Therefore, Pavel Belyaev had to unfasten himself, orient the ship, prepare to turn on the TDU, return to the seat, buckle up and turn on the TDU. It took 22 seconds to return to the seat and buckle up, which resulted in a flight approximately 165 km to the northeast. As a result, the ship landed at an off-design point, which is located approximately 75 kilometers northwest of the city of Berezniki.

Landing took place in the snowy taiga, far from settlements. The cosmonauts spent three days in the taiga until they were discovered and rescuers arrived. However, the helicopter could not land nearby. The landing site for the helicopter was equipped the next day, 9 km from the place where the astronauts landed. The astronauts and rescuers got to the helicopter on skis. The cosmonauts were taken by helicopter to Perm. In the evening, the cosmonauts flew to Baikonur.

Having made the first spacewalk, Soviet cosmonauts outpaced the Americans again. Only two and a half months later, the first spacewalk was made by American astronaut Edward White.

The flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was the last manned flight of the Voskhod-class spacecraft. Previously, a long, up to 15 days, manned flight on the Voskhod-3 spacecraft was planned, but this flight was cancelled. A long flight of the ship "Voskhod" was carried out with the dogs Veterok and Ugolyok on board. This flight began on February 22, 1966 and lasted 20 days. This was the last flight of the Voskhod spacecraft.

At this time, a new manned spacecraft Soyuz was being developed in the Soviet Union, which made its first flight with an astronaut on board in April 1967.

From a TASS message on March 18, 1965

«

Today, March 18, 1965, at 11:30 Moscow time, during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, a man's exit into outer space was carried out for the first time. On the second circuit of the flight, co-pilot pilot-cosmonaut Lieutenant Colonel Leonov Alexei Arkhipovich, in a special spacesuit with an autonomous life support system, made an exit into outer space, retired from the ship at a distance of up to five meters, successfully carried out a set of planned studies and observations and safely returned to the ship. With the help of the onboard television system, the process of Comrade Leonov's exit into outer space, his work outside the spacecraft, and his return to the spacecraft were transmitted to Earth and observed by a network of ground stations. The state of health of Comrade Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov during his stay outside the ship and after returning to the ship is good. The commander of the ship, comrade Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev, is also feeling well.

»

On March 18, 1965, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was launched, the astronauts of which were supposed to try to go into space. For the implementation of the Soviet lunar program, this experience was very important. Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev coped with the task, although not according to the given scenario. To top it all, the automatic landing system did not work and the cosmonauts had to switch to manual control - and it turned out that the ship landed not in the calculated place, but in the remote taiga in the north of the Perm region.

Meeting of astronauts. March 1965 Permian
Photo: Archive of Konstantin Galanshin

A large-scale search for astronauts began. Boris Konoplyov, then the chairman of the regional executive committee, said that as soon as he found out, he went to the airport, got into a helicopter and went north.

Boris Konoplyov: “Taiga, nothing is visible. We decided to stop in every village. In the third in a row, the boy says: "I heard there was an explosion." They flew in that direction. After 10 minutes of flight, we see a huge orange parachute on the spruce, and it was determined from it that the astronauts were there. The helicopter hovered over them. The ship's hatch was open. By radio, through Berezniki, they contacted Galanshin: "The astronauts have been found, we can now take them to the helicopter." He contacted Marshal Ustinov. They transmit: “No amateur performance! They should be taken away by a special evacuation squad”: they categorically forbade doing anything. We had three sets of winter flight equipment with us, they dropped them off to the astronauts. The pilot had a bag with food - they also dropped it, and an ax. They found everything except the ax, the snow was deep.”

A few hours later, the lumberjack Vasily Nasedkin was lowered from the helicopter to the cosmonauts. He helped them a lot: he kindled a fire, raked the snow - spending the night in the taiga, even in March, is an extreme adventure.