The First Spacewalk, and the Suit That Wouldn't Fit Back
The first man to walk in space found, after twelve minutes floating above the Earth, that his suit had swollen too big to get back inside.
What was reported
On 18 March 1965, the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov climbed out of the Voskhod 2 spacecraft through an inflatable airlock and became the first person to float freely in space, tied to the ship by a tether. He later described the overwhelming silence and the view of the Earth below.
But in the vacuum of space, his spacesuit swelled so much that he couldn't get his feet into the airlock. Without telling mission control, he let some air out of his suit, risking decompression sickness, and squeezed in head first.
Explanations offered
The suit problem was caused by the pressure difference between the inside of the suit and the vacuum. The mission's troubles weren't over: the spacecraft landed far off course, in snowy forest in the Ural mountains, where the crew spent a cold night before rescuers reached them. Details became public only years later.
- When
- 18 March 1965
- Where
- In orbit, aboard Voskhod 2
- Witnesses
- Alexei Leonov, Pavel Belyayev and Soviet mission control
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.