50th Anniversary of Alexei Leonov's first spacewalk

http://ift.tt/1FdbIP4

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Fifty years ago, Alexei Leonov opened the airlock of his tiny space capsule, which was orbiting the Earth, and stepped into the void. For 12 minutes the Soviet cosmonaut floated above our planet, tethered to his ship by a 16ft cable. In doing so, Leonov became the first person to walk in space. It was an event of extraordinary importance – for spacewalks have since become a mainstay of most major manned endeavours in Earth orbit. More than 200 astronauts – floating free in space on extra-vehicular activity, or EVAs – have since carried out tasks ranging from the repair of the Hubble space telescope to the construction of the international space station. As Leonov told the Observer: “It is impossible to imagine the development of any serious space project or experiment without EVAs today.”

Congratulations and happy anniversary Mr Leonov!

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1FdbIP6