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

In March 1965, the space shuttle Voskhod-2 was flown. Before the crew in the astronauts PA. Belyaeva and A.A. Leonova was not an easy, but very responsible task - to implement the first-ever man to go into outer space.

The direct implementation of the experiment fell to Aleksey Leonov, and on March 18 he successfully managed it. The cosmonaut went out into open space, retired from the ship for 5 meters and held beyond it a total of 12 minutes and 9 seconds.

The flight of "Sunrise" was not without emergency situations and curious cases. It is difficult to describe how many mental and physical forces had to be spent on 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 idea that the man's exit into outer space is 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 implement such a daring 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 his 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 was necessary to first work 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 have answered the most important question: how will man behave in outer 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 sixties it seemed to be a perfect fantasy or even suicide.

Crew

Initially, the group of cosmonauts preparing for the flight 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 one - 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 in terms of psychology.

The test results showed that Belyaev possesses great restraint and composure, he can not lose his head in any situation, and Leonov, on the contrary, is impulsive, impulsive, but extremely 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

For the first three months, the cosmonauts were studying the design 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. For an hour's flight the plane 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, flying on the MIGs, but strapped astronauts were deprived of the opportunity to move. It was decided to take a more spacious Tu-104LL. Inside the plane was installed a model of the space ship part with the airlock chamber, on this improvised simulator and the main trainings took place.

Uncomfortable spacesuits

Today in the museum of astronautics you can see the same spacesuit in which Leonov made a man's escape to outer space. The photo of the smiling astronaut in the helmet with the inscription "USSR" flew all the newspapers of the world, but no one could guess how much effort this smile cost.

Especially for "Voskhod-2" special suits were developed, 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 took place already in the spacesuits, the maintenance system 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 a 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, by the way, was considered the strongest and hardiest in the group, which in many respects predetermined his main role in the experiment.

Exhibition show

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

Later Gagarin explained to Khrunov his position, he believed 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 guard soldier, the inflatable sluice hung from the ship to check the tightness suddenly fell and tore. There was no spare, so it was decided to take advantage of that, which cosmonauts used to train for a long time. This incident could prove fatal, but fortunately everything turned out, the repeatedly used gateway withstood, and the first man's exit into outer space successfully took place.

Going out into space

There were many theories about human behavior in outer space . 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 could result in man's exit into outer space. 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 went into a 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 lock in outer space.

The worst predictions of skeptics did not come true, and the cosmonaut felt quite decent. He fulfilled all the 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 anyone, independently lowered the pressure in the spacesuit and rushed to 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 a lot of defects, and after the successful completion of the flight program there was an emergency. When the exit gate was fired, the sensors of the solar-stellar orientation formed. When the ship made its 16th turn around the Earth, the MCC received instructions to decrease. But the ship continued to fly, as if nothing had happened. When he went to the 17th turn, it became clear that the system of automatic orientation 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 Leonov regained control over the ship, but they were still late with the engine shut down for almost a minute. As a result, the planned landing site remained far behind and the launch vehicle landed in the deaf Permian forests.

Rescue operation

The 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 package was lost in the snowdrifts.

The helicopter could not land in deep snow among the trees, and the cosmonauts did not have the necessary equipment to cut down the trees, nor to fill the snow with water and make an improvised ice landing pad. In the end, 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 unpleasant incidents during the flight, Belyaev and Leonov coped with their main task - they made a man out into the open space. The date of this event became one of the most significant milestones in the history of Soviet cosmonautics.