Today marks the 49th anniversary of the first space walk! Russian cosmonaut Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the space capsule. The date was 18th March 1965.
He almost didn’t make it back inside the capsule. Due to the lack of atmospheric pressure his space suit had bloated so much that he wasn’t able to fit in through the air lock. He opened a valve to release some of the pressure and slowly made his way back into the capsule.
Even though his space walk was seen by many people back on earth, this heart-stopping moment was thankfully not shown. He later said that he was glad of this because his family was watching.
Thanks for posting this. I didn’t know about the problem with this walk. I did, however, just post a blog about the US/Russian Space programs as well. You can find it at: http://downhousesoftware.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/is-the-space-age-over-for-the-us/
(I was in sort of a sour mood when I wrote it because I had just been reading about the US’s inability to send astronauts to the ISS without private industry or Russian aid – nothing against either of those programs, but I would really like to see the US back in the game)
I enjoyed that post. I’m looking forward to seeing the SLS take shape. I especially like the idea of capturing an asteroid!