The world-famous cosmonaut Leonov Alexei Arkhipovich was born in a small Siberian village on May 30, 1934 and became the ninth child in the family. His father was a very respected man in the village, so he was elected chairman of the village council. When the boy was thirteen years old, his whole family moved to the city of Kaliningrad in connection with the occupation of the head of the family. The young man became interested in aviation technology during his studies at school. Then he gained initial knowledge in such disciplines as the theory of flight and the design of aircraft. After graduating from high school in 1953 with good grades, Leonov entered the Kremenchug school of pilots without any problems. In addition to her, he also received knowledge at a higher school, which was located in Chuguev and trained fighter pilots. In 1960, Alexei Arkhipovich, after a long and tough selection, entered the cosmonaut corps.
Conquering outer space
March 1965 dates a special flight in the history of Soviet and world cosmonautics. Then the cosmonaut Leonov was in the role of the second pilot of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft (the first was PI Belyaev). During this flight, man first appeared in outer space. He spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds at a distance of five meters from the ship. Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov is the astronaut who accomplished this, thereby laying the foundation for the latest round of human space activity. Career his swift steps went up after that. During the period from 1967 to 1970, he even led a group that was preparing to fly to the moon.
The first Soviet-American flight
In the first months of 1973, the Soviet Academy of Sciences, together with NASA, began training personnel for the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft. Applicants should be well versed in space technology, know foreign languages, have high qualifications and professionalism. Cosmonaut Leonov was appointed commander of the domestic ship. The joint flight, which lasted more than five days, caused great interest around the world. During its holding, for the first time, a Soviet spacecraft docked with an American one. In addition, the astronauts conducted many important biomedical, astrophysical and technological experiments.
Contribution to the development of world space
Cosmonaut Leonov during his work made a huge contribution to the development of not only Soviet, but also world cosmonautics. In particular, he carried out a large number of experiments and studies. Among them, it should be noted the study of color and light visual characteristics after space flights, the development of a spacesuit for working in the hydrosphere, the possibility of using the hydrosphere as an analogue of zero gravity. Moreover, he owns more than thirty speeches at various conferences and congresses. Alexei Leonov is an astronaut who has many state awards for his activities. In 1965 and 1975, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. One of the lunar craters bears his name. In the period from 1985 to 1999, he was one of the chairmen of the International Association of Space Flight Participants. He resigned with the rank of Major General of Aviation. Now lives and works in Moscow.