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IPFS News Link • Space Travel and Exploration

A step back in time: The 50th anniversary of the first spacewalk

• http://www.gizmag.com, By David Szondy

With those words, the head of the Soviet space program, Sergei Korolev, initiated the crew of the first spacewalk mission. On March 18, 1965, cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev lifted off in Voskhod (Sunrise) 2, from which Leonov would exit to become the first person in history to step into the vacuum of space.

It would be nice to say that half a century later spacewalks are routine, but, if anything, the opposite is the case. Though astronauts from many countries have worked outside of their spacecraft, built space stations, and repaired satellites, getting into a spacesuit and stepping into an airlock is still a newsworthy event and one that's as complex and dangerous as a mixed-gas deep diving operation.


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