Small Steps

50 years ago today, Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov went for a little stroll — 300 miles above Earth’s surface. He became the first person to walk in space — a walk he barely survived.
Alexei Leonov takes the first spacewalk, March 1965It was an important early step in the Space Race. It proved that a person could live and move around outside his capsule — a capability that was crucial to walking on the Moon or building a space station.
Leonov spent more than 10 minutes floating outside his Voskhod 2 capsule. But his spacesuit puffed up so much that he couldn’t get back in through the small hatch, so he had to let out air to deflate it. He also had to come in head first instead of feet first as planned, then turn around inside the tight airlock.
Leonov’s troubles didn’t end there. The landing system malfunctioned, so Voskhod 2 landed hundreds of miles off course, in deep snow inside a dense forest. Leonov and his fellow cosmonaut spent a bitterly cold night inside their capsule, surrounded by