Pavel Belyayev, Voskhod 2 cosmonaut, born 1925

Pavel Belyayev, born June 26, 1925 in the former Soviet Union, made space history when he commanded the Voskhod 2 mission, which involved the first spacewalk ever.   In March 1965, Belyayev and fellow cosmonaut Alexey Leonov launched in Voskhod 2.  Leonov made the first successful EVA.

Belyayev had to perform a manual re-entry when the automatic system failed.  It took time for him to perform the maneuver, and it caused them to overshoot their landing position by 2000 km. 

Belyayev was scheduled to fly the Voskhod 8 mission but it was cancelled.

He died in 1970 from peritonitis.

Happy birthday, Alexey Leonov (first EVA)!

Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov, born May 30, 1934, became the first human to step out of a capsule and take an extra-vehicular activity (EVA), walking in space.  His historic event was scheduled to take place on Voskhod 1, but that was cancelled and rescheduled on Voskhod 2.  Everything (almost) went as planned during the Voskhod 2 mission.

Leonov stepped through the hatch and spent the next 12 minutes in space.  However, when he tried to re-enter the capsule, his spacesuit had ballooned so much from the air pressure inside, Leonov could not get through the hatchway.  He had to vent some of the pressure so his suit would fit.

He was selected to be the first Russian man to step onto the moon, but that project was scrapped along with many other programs, due to failures, design problems or budget restraints.  Leonov's second and last spaceflight was aboard Soyuz 19 as the commander of the Russian half of the historic meeting between the U.S. and Soviet Union, the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.

Voskhod 2 launched 1965, first EVA

Voskhod 2, launched March 18, 1965, carried two cosmonauts, Pavel Belyayev and Alexey Leonov, into space.  Alexey left the capsule to perform the first extra-vehicular activity.  It last only about 10 minutes.

Despite the success of the spacewalk, the cosmonauts experienced problems during the flight and re-entry.  They touched down nearly 400km from the planned landing point.  They landed in a forested section of remote mountains.  Before the rescuers could get to them, night fell and the temperatures dropped below freezing, but they managed to stay alive.

Rescuers on skies finally reached them but it would be another day before they would be able to get back to civilization.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_2