56 years ago, on March 18, 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov made the first spacewalk in the history of mankind from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft using a flexible airlock. Joint work on board was carried out with the commander of the ship Pavel Belyaev. The total time of the first exit was 23 minutes 41 seconds (of which 12 minutes 9 seconds outside the ship).
It was these words that went down in world history as a notice of the first manned spacewalk, and the first person to convey this message was Pavel Belyaev, the commander of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. This epoch-making event marked the next step of mankind towards the Universe, and experience made it possible to draw a conclusion about the possibility of man to perform work in outer space.
The Voskhod launch vehicle with the Voskhod-2 crew was launched on March 18, 1965 at 10:00 from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Alexey Leonov left the spacecraft 1 hour 35 minutes after the launch. During his return to the ship, Alexei Leonov experienced difficulties, since the swollen spacesuit did not pass through the Voskhod air lock. Only the release of the oxygen pressure in the suit and the heroic efforts of Alexei Arkhipovich allowed the flight to be safely completed then.
To enter space, the Berkut spacesuit was developed with a multilayer hermetically sealed envelope, with the help of which excess pressure was maintained inside, ensuring the normal life of the astronaut. Outside, the spacesuit had a special white coating to protect it from heat exposure to sunlight and from possible mechanical damage to the sealed part of the spacesuit. Both crew members were equipped with spacesuits so that the spacecraft commander could, if necessary, provide assistance to the astronaut who went into space.
The first spacewalk, performed by Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, became another starting point for world cosmonautics. Today, extravehicular activities of cosmonauts and astronauts on board the International Comic Station can last for several hours, and all this thanks to the first 729 seconds that Alexei Leonov spent outside the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. In addition, engineers received a tremendous amount of information for the development of more advanced spacesuits. Their modern designs allow to perform almost any kind of work in open space. And today, when spacewalk has become a planned task for crews on board the station, work in open space is still accompanied by a risk: astronauts need to have certain skills, be able to quickly make decisions and respond to emergency situations.