Arkhipovich Leonov Biography

The astronaut must be able to carry out the necessary repair and production work in the interstellar space. This is not fantasy - this is a necessity. The more humanity will fly into space, the more this necessity will be felt. ” These words, spoken at the dawn of the era of astronautics S. Korolev, became prophetic. For half a century of history of exits from the ship, dozens of people visited outer space, but our compatriot and contemporary - legendary Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov became the pioneer of the star abyss.

The illustrated biography from the book “Who is who is in modern Russia” was born on May 30 in the village of Listvyanka now - the Tisa district of the Kemerovo region. Father - Leonov Arkhip Alekseevich - was a peasant, before that he worked as a miner. Mother - Leonova Sotnikova Evdokia Minaevna -, teacher. Wife - Leonova Dotsenko Svetlana Pavlovna G. Grandchildren: Daniel, Karina.

Alexey Leonov was born in a small village, kilometers northeast of the city of Kemerovo. Here, the parents of Alexei, at different times, came here to the grandfather, exiled to the tsarist government for participating in the revolution of the year, at different times, and after the end of the civil war and father. Donetsk Shakhtar Arkhip Leonov became the chairman of the village council in the Siberian village.

In the year of his father, they repressed, in the year he was rehabilitated. Alexey was the ninth child in the family. In the year, he moved with his mother to Kemerovo. In the year he went to elementary school. Among the main hobbies of young Leonov at that time was the painting of old Russian furnaces, wall carpets, which he learned from the immigrants who lived in the neighborhood from Ukraine.

Once, Alexei saw a book with black and white illustrations of Aivazovsky’s paintings and caught fire with a desire to purchase it. She cost it very expensive - for payment, the boy had to give 50 grams of bread and a teaspoon of sugar every day in the school for a month. Since then, Aivazovsky became his favorite artist. In the year, the Leonov family moved to a new place of father’s service - to the city of Kaliningrad.

By that time, he was already very fond of flight business, knew the nazuok of famous aviators, revised all the films about pilots, and made aircraft models on his own. At the same time gravitated to painting. Possessing the great ability to draw from childhood, he presented his work to the rector of the Riga Academy of Arts and was invited to the first year. However, finding out that he cannot count on a hostel in Riga for at least three years, the young man began to look for other options.

Having received a certificate of maturity, Alexei submitted documents to the school of pilots and went to Kremenchug by Komsomol. According to the notes of the elder brother of Peter, the former aviation technician, the young man with enviable perseverance studied the basics of flight theory, aircraft engines and aircraft designs. In combination with outstanding sports achievements, this became the key that opened the door of the flight school in front of the guy, where the competition was 13 people per place.

In August, Leonov was enrolled in the tenth military air school of the initial training of pilots, located in the city of Kremenchug, Poltava region, which he successfully graduated in the year. There was a meeting of Alexei with the KrAZ employee, the beautiful Svetlana, who soon became his wife and fate for life, gave her husband two daughters. In connection with the outstanding outstanding abilities of Leonov, he was sent to Ukraine to the city of Chuguev at the Higher Military School of Fighters-Fighters.

And in years he served in the Air Army of the Tenth Guards Division, located in Ukraine. In the summer of the year, Colonel Karpov, the future head of the Center for Training of astronauts, arrived in the division. He invited the pilots to the conversation, including Leonov. On the eve of Alexey fell into a serious accident, which he successfully coped. At the meeting, Colonel Karpov asked Leonov’s health and his plans for the future.

Alexey Arkhipovich replied that he was healthy and wants to continue flights. Then the colonel invited him to enter the school of test pilots. There he met Yuri Gagarin.

A year later, on April 4, he will receive the qualification of the “Cosmonaut of the Air Force”. In the meantime, the months of persistent training followed in order to prepare for the upcoming flights, during which the participants continued to undergo various medical experiments, often unreasonably cruel. Here are some episodes. This is a crazy load, ”said Alexei Arkhipovich.

In general, all this did not add health. ” During one of these trials, Leonov was placed in a gap for two weeks. With the help of a certain pasta for electro -conductivity, the sensors were glued to the body. Many years later, he recalled: “I wake up on the tenth day and see that the whole sheet is in the blood. I look, and a couple of sensors fell off and the rags of my skin with them.

In the places where they were glued, the epidermis does not remain - only muscles that twitch in the rhythm of the heartbeat. For two months they healed these places.I cut off the rest of the zinc sensors and put it on the shelf to show who needed after experience ... But on the thirteenth day, oxygen began to end, the experiment was stopped, and I was removed from there.

When I returned for the sensors to the camera, there were no longer there ... There were no material evidence. ” Similar in the literal and figurative sense of the test were tempered by the already iron character of Alexei Leonov. He, like no one was ready for emergency situations. In the year, after the planet’s orbit visited six single ships of the Vostok type, including Vostok -6 with Valentina Tereshkova, KB, headed by Sergei Korolev, began to design a new spacecraft of the same series, but designed for three places.

Simultaneously with the preparation of the flight that was successfully completed in October by Komarov, Feoktistov and Egorov, on the basis of the new design of the Voskrad, it was decided to create a double ship that allows a person to enter the airless space. In parallel with the changes in the Sunrise spacecraft, preparations for the flight were two crews of astronauts: Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov and their understudies - Victor Gorbatko and Evgeny Khrunov.

During the selection of the crew, not only the tasks and goals of the flight, its complexity and duration were taken into account, but also the psychological, individual characteristics of the astronauts represented by psychologists. The crew of the Voskhod-2 ship presented special requirements according to the criteria of coherence and work. It was assumed that such a difficult task as exit from the cabin of the ship into outer space through the gateway camera could only be solved with complete trust, mutual understanding and faith in each other.

In accordance with the research of psychologists, Belyaev was characterized as a strong-willed and restrained person who does not even panic in the most difficult situations, showing enormous perseverance and logical thinking when achieving the goals. Leonov, in turn, belonged to the cholery type, was a impulsive, dare, decisive, easily developed bumpy activities. In addition, his artistic gift was noted, the ability to quickly memorize the paintings presented to his gaze, and then a very accurate reproduction.

Having different characters, these two people perfectly complemented each other, creating, according to psychologists, a “highly compatible group”, capable of successfully fulfilling the task assigned to them and drawing up a detailed report on all the problems and surprises related to space stay. To enter space, a special spacesuit was also created, called the “golden eagle”, which had an additional hermetic shell that increases the overall reliability.

Alexei Arkhipovich recalled: “In December, we visited the Corgene Expanderatic Bureau. Sergei Pavlovich met us, spent us in the workshop and showed a model of Voskhod, equipped with some unusual camera. Seeing our surprise, he explained that this is a gateway to enter outer space. Then Sergey Pavlovich asked me to put on a new spacesuit and try to complete a number of experiments.

After two hours of work, during which I had to work hard, I again met with Korolev. I remember, told him that the task can be completed, you just need to think over everything. ” The total weight of the spacesuit was about kilograms, but in zero gravity this did not play a significant role. The problems created the pressure of the air that filled the hermetic shell and made the spacesuit unavailable and tough.

Cosmonauts had to overcome the resistance of their vestments with great efforts. Alexey Arkhipovich recalled: “Only in order to squeeze the hand in a glove, it was necessary to make a force of 25 kilograms.” In this regard, during preparation for the flight, special significance was attached to physical form: the astronauts performed daily run, intensively engaged in weightlifting and gymnastics.

In addition, a set of training for more perfect ownership of their body included jumping into the water, trampoline, parachute descent, and exercises on the rotating “Zhukovsky bench”. The conditions of short -term real weightlessness were also created for astronauts - in a aircraft flying along a special trajectory. So, after three-year preparation, on March 18, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev on board started with Baikonur.

After entering orbit, at the end of the first round, Alexei Arkhipovich began to prepare for the exit in outer space. Belyaev helped him with the satchel of the life support system, and then filled the gateway with air. When Leonov moved to the gateway camera, Pavel Ivanovich closed the hatch behind him and carried out the depressurization of the camera.

Only the last step remained softly pushing away, Alexei Leonov “sailed” from the gateway. Finding himself in space, he carefully moved his legs and hands - movements were easily performed, and then he, spreading his arms to the sides, began to steam in the airless space associated with the ship by a five -meter phala. Five times, Alexei Arkhipovich flew away and returned to the ship.When Leonov saw Yenisei and Irtysh, Belyaev gave the command to return.

However, this was not easy to do - in the vacuum the spacesuit of the astronaut swelled. He himself described what happened: “The pressure in the spacesuit reached mm, it was impossible to simulate such conditions on the ground on Earth. Neither the dense fabric nor the ribs of stiffness withstood - the spacesuit was so swollen that the feet left the boots, and the phalanges of the fingers were from gloves.

Of course, we assumed that this would happen, but did not think so much. ” A critical situation arose: Leonov in this state could not get into the hatch of the gateway, but there was no more time left for conversations with the Earth - the supply of oxygen was designed for 20 minutes. Belyaev was aware of everything, but could not help. And then Alexei Arkhipovich, violating all the instructions, independently dropped the pressure in the spacesuit and “swam” into the gateway face and not with his legs, as it should be forward.

The duration of the world's first output into the outdoor space was 23 minutes 41 seconds of them 12 minutes 09 seconds - outside the ship. The emergency situations continued.