The first spacewalk disaster: How Alexei Leonov nearly became stranded in space during humanity’s most daring mission

The first man to ever take steps outside the confines of the spacecraft was Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965.

What at first seemed like a victory in the highly competitive Space Race very quickly developed into a fight for Leonov’s life.

While out floating above Earth, Leonov experienced problems with his spacesuit expanding in the conditions of outer space due to the vacuum and became unable to move, let alone enter the spacecraft through the airlock as he had planned to do.

Forced by time constraints to act fast or else die, Leonov released oxygen from his suit and took the risk of suffering from decompression sickness in order to reenter the spacecraft and survive.

Leonov’s story of bravery is one of many, showing just how daring people had to be during those pioneering days of space travel.How Alexei Leonov made history with the world’s first spacewalk aboard Voskhod 2Voskhod 2 was launched by the Soviets, carrying two cosmonauts aboard, namely, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev.