On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov made the first spacewalk in the history of mankind. outer space.
The event occurred during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. The commander of the ship is Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev, the pilot is Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov.
The ship was equipped with an inflatable lock chamber "Volga". Before the launch, the chamber folded and measured 70 cm in diameter and 77 cm in length. In space, the chamber was inflated and had the following dimensions: 2.5 meters in length, inner diameter - 1 meter, outer - 1.2 meters. Camera weight - 250 kg. Before deorbiting, the camera fired back from the ship.
The space suit "Berkut" was designed to go into space. He provided a stay in outer space for 30 minutes. The first exit took 23 minutes 41 seconds (outside the ship 12 minutes 9 seconds).
It is interesting that the training before this flight was carried out on board the Tu-104AK aircraft, in which a life-size model of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft with a real lock chamber was installed (it was she who flew into space later). During the flight of an aircraft along a parabolic trajectory, when weightlessness set in for several minutes, the cosmonauts practiced exit in a spacesuit through an airlock.
Voskhod-2 launched on March 18, 1965 at 10:00 Moscow time. The airlock was already inflated on the first turn. Both astronauts were in space suits. According to the program, Belyaev was supposed to help Leonov return to the ship in the event of an emergency.
The spacewalk began on the second orbit. Leonov moved into the lock chamber and Belyaev closed the hatch behind him. Then the air from the chamber was vented and at 11:32:54 Belyaev opened the outer hatch of the lock chamber from his remote control in the ship. At 11:34:51 Alexei Leonov left the airlock and ended up in outer space. 
Leonov gently pushed off and felt the ship tremble from his push. The first thing he saw was the black sky. Belyaev's voice was immediately heard:
- "Diamond-2" began to exit. Movie camera on? - the commander addressed this question to his comrade.
- Understood. I am Almaz-2. I take off the lid. Throw away. Caucasus! Caucasus! I see the Caucasus below me! Began to withdraw (from the ship).
Before throwing the lid away, Leonov thought for a second whether to send it into satellite orbit or down to Earth. Thrown to the ground. The astronaut's pulse was 164 beats per minute, the moment of exit was very tense.
Belyaev transmitted to Earth:
-Attention! The man went into outer space!
The television image of Leonov soaring against the background of the Earth was broadcast on all television channels.
12 minutes… The total weight of the “exit suit” was close to 100 kg… Five times the cosmonaut flew away from the spacecraft and returned on a 5.35 m long halyard… All this time the “room” temperature was maintained in the suit, and its outer surface was heated in the sun to + 60 ° and cooled in the shade to -100 ° С ...
The flight of Vostok-2 went down in history twice. The first, official and open, said that everything went brilliantly. In the second, which was revealed gradually and was never published in detail, there are at least three emergency situations.
Leonov was observed on television and broadcast the image to Moscow. When leaving the ship for five meters, he waved his hand in open space. Leonov was outside the airlock for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. But it turned out that getting out was easier than going back. The suit swelled in space and could not fit into the airlock. Leonov was forced to relieve pressure in order to “lose weight” and make him softer. Still, he had to climb back not with his feet, as was planned, but with his head. All the vicissitudes of what happened during the return to the ship, we found out only after the landing of the astronauts.
A.A.Leonov's spacesuit, after being in space, lost its flexibility and did not allow the astronaut to enter the hatch. A.A. Leonov made attempt after attempt, but to no avail. The situation was complicated by the fact that the supply of oxygen in the spacesuit was designed for only twenty minutes, and each failure increased the degree of risk to the astronaut's life. Leonov limited the flow of oxygen, but from excitement and exertion, his pulse and breathing rate increased sharply, which means that more oxygen was required. S.P. Korolev tried to calm him down, instill confidence. On Earth, they heard the reports of A.A. Leonov: “I can’t, I couldn’t again.”
According to the cyclogram, Aleksey had to swim into the chamber with his feet, then, having fully entered the airlock, close the hatch behind him and seal it. In reality, he had to bleed the air from the spacesuit almost to critical pressure. After several attempts, the cosmonaut decided to "float" into the cabin face forward. He succeeded, but at the same time he hit the glass of the helmet against its wall. It was scary - because the glass could burst. At 08:49 UTC, the airlock exit hatch was closed and at 08:52 UTC pressurization of the airlock began.
TASS message dated March 18, 1965:
Today, March 18, 1965, at 11:30 Moscow time, during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, a man's exit into outer space was carried out for the first time. On the second circuit of the flight, co-pilot pilot-cosmonaut Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, in a special spacesuit with an autonomous life support system, made an exit into outer space, retired from the ship at a distance of up to five meters, successfully carried out a set of planned studies and observations and safely returned to the ship. With the help of the on-board television system, the process of Comrade Leonov's exit into outer space, his work outside the spacecraft and his return to the spacecraft were transmitted to Earth and observed by a network of ground stations. The state of health of Comrade Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov during his stay outside the ship and after returning to the ship is good. The commander of the ship, comrade Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev, is also feeling well.
After returning to the ship, the troubles continued.
The second emergency was an incomprehensible pressure drop in the cabin pressurization cylinders from 75 to 25 atmospheres after Leonov's return. It was necessary to land no later than the 17th orbit, although Grigory Voronin, the chief designer of this part of the vital system, reassured that there would be enough oxygen for another day. Here is how Alexei Arkhipovich describes the events:
... the partial pressure of oxygen (in the cabin) began to grow, which reached 460 mm and continued to grow. This is at a rate of 160 mm! But after all, 460 mm is explosive gas, because Bondarenko burned out on this ... At first we sat in a daze. Everyone understood, but they could do almost nothing: they completely removed the humidity, removed the temperature (it became 10-12 °). And the pressure is growing ... The slightest spark - and everything would turn into a molecular state, and we understood this. Seven hours in this state, and then fell asleep ... apparently from stress. Then we figured out that I had touched the boost switch with a hose from the spacesuit ... What actually happened? Since the ship was stabilized relative to the Sun for a long time, then, naturally, a deformation arose; after all, on the one hand, cooling to -140 ° C, on the other, heating to + 150 ° C ... The sensors for closing the hatch worked, but a gap remained. The regeneration system began to build up pressure, and oxygen began to grow, we did not have time to consume it ... General pressure reached 920 mm. These several tons of pressure pressed down the hatch - and the pressure growth stopped. Then the pressure began to drop before our eyes.
Further more. TDU (brake propulsion system) did not work in automatic mode and the ship continued to fly. The crew was given the command to land the ship in manual mode on the 18th or 22nd orbit. Here is another quote from Leonov:
We went over Moscow, inclination 65°. We had to land exactly on this turn, and we ourselves chose the area for landing - 150 km from Solikamsk with a heading angle of 270 °, because there was taiga. No businesses, no power lines. They could land in Kharkov, in Kazan, in Moscow, but it was dangerous. The version that we got there due to imbalance is complete nonsense. We ourselves chose the landing site, as it was safer and possible deviations in the engine operation shifted the landing point also to safe areas. Only it was impossible to land in China - then relations were very tense. As a result, at a speed of 28,000 km / h, we sat down only 80 km from our calculated point. This is a good result. And then there were no reserve landing sites. And we weren't expected...
Finally, a report came in from a search helicopter. He discovered a red parachute and two astronauts 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Bereznyaki. The dense forest and deep snow made it impossible for helicopters to land near the astronauts. There were no settlements nearby either.
Landing in the deep taiga was the last emergency in the history of Voskhod-2. The cosmonauts spent the night in the forest of the Northern Urals. Helicopters could only fly over them and report that “one is chopping wood, the other is putting it on the fire.”
Warm clothes and food were dropped from helicopters to the cosmonauts, but Belyaev and Leonov could not be pulled out of the taiga. A group of skiers with a doctor, who landed one and a half kilometers away, reached them through the snow in four hours, but did not dare to take them out of the taiga.
A real competition unfolded for the salvation of the astronauts. The landfill service, encouraged by Tyulin and Korolev, sent its rescue expedition to Perm, led by Lieutenant Colonel Belyaev and the foreman of our plant, Lygin. From Perm, they got by helicopter to a site two kilometers from Voskhod-2 and soon hugged the astronauts. Marshal Rudenko forbade his rescue service to evacuate astronauts from the ground to a hovering helicopter. They stayed in the taiga for a second cold night, although now they had a tent, warm fur uniforms and plenty of food. It came to Brezhnev. He was convinced that lifting astronauts into a helicopter hovering near the ground was a dangerous business.
Brezhnev agreed and approved a proposal to cut down trees nearby to prepare a landing site.
When we landed, we were not immediately found ... We sat in spacesuits for two days, we had no other clothes. On the third day we were pulled out of there. Because of the sweat, my suit was knee-deep in moisture, about 6 liters. So in the legs and bubbling. Then, already at night, I say to Pasha: "Well, that's it, I'm cold." We took off our suits, stripped naked, wrung out our underwear, put it back on. Then the screen-vacuum thermal insulation was sporulated. They threw away all the hard part, and put the rest on themselves. These are nine layers of aluminized foil, covered with dederon on top. Parachute lines were wrapped around the top like two sausages. And so they stayed there for the night. And at 12 noon a helicopter arrived and landed 9 km away. Another helicopter in a basket lowered Yura Lygin directly towards us. Then Slava Volkov (Vladislav Volkov, future cosmonaut of TsKBEM) and others came to us on skis. They brought us warm clothes, poured brandy, and we gave them our alcohol - and life became more fun. The fire was lit, the boiler was put on. We washed. In about two hours they cut down a small hut for us, where we spent the night normally. There was even a bed.
On March 21, a helicopter landing site was prepared. And on the same day, on board the Mi-4, the cosmonauts arrived in Perm, from where they made an official report on the completion of the flight.
And yet, despite all the problems that arose during the flight, it was the first, very first exit of man into outer space. Here is how Alexey Leonov describes his impressions:
I want to tell you that the picture of the cosmic abyss that I saw, with its grandeur, immensity, brightness of colors and sharp contrasts of pure darkness with the dazzling radiance of the stars, simply struck and fascinated me. To complete the picture, imagine - against this background, I see our Soviet ship, illuminated by the bright light of the sun's rays. When I was leaving the gateway, I felt a powerful stream of light and heat, reminiscent of electric welding. Above me was a black sky and bright, unblinking stars. The sun seemed to me like a red-hot fiery disk ... 
How the crew of the Vostok-2 ship was rescued when it landed in the remote Permian taiga
In contact with
Classmates
Vladimir Laktanov
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov leaves the Vostok-2 spacecraft. Photo: TASS newsreel reproduction
Since 1958, the Perm Territory has been manufacturing engines that put spacecraft into orbit. In March 1961, a descent module landed in the south of the Kama region with a dog named Zvezdochka, who returned safely from near-Earth space immediately before Yuri Gagarin's flight. Four years later, in March 1965, the Voskhod-2 ship made an emergency landing in the Permian taiga.
During this flight, Alexei Leonov became the first man in the world to go into outer space. True, he almost died at the same time - his spacesuit swelled so that the return to the ship was in question, he could not squeeze through the hatch for a long time. And then everything could end badly again, when the automatic descent control system failed during landing on Earth. What happened next, Alexei Leonov described as follows: “The ship began to turn. And for the first time in the history of astronautics, we carried out a descent in manual mode. Since the orbit was higher, they missed it: they landed not in the Kazakh steppes, but in the Permian taiga. They shot the hatch and ... drowned up to their shoulders in snow. Frost - minus 25 degrees. In order not to die from the cold, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev had to kindle a fire and hope that they would be found soon. We had to wait three days. After this landing, the survival course was included in the mandatory training program for astronauts.
One of the Permians who were looking for the Vostok-2 crew in the taiga told RP how Alexei Leonov first of all suggested that the rescuers change space food for ordinary bread and why then the whole district flaunted in orange silk.
"We didn't believe at first"
In 1965, Valentin Rozhkov was the chief mechanic of the Permellesprom Shemey timber industry enterprise, on whose territory the Voskhod-2 crew landed, and it was he who was assigned to lead the ground rescue operation. He still lives in Perm. And he remembers all the events almost every minute, although this year he celebrates his 80th anniversary.
Valentin Rozhkov
Valentin Rozhkov. Photo from personal archive
On March 19, 1965, Rozhkov was at a meeting of the chief mechanics of the Uralzapadles plant in the city of Berezniki.
We - all who came to the meeting - went to have lunch at a restaurant on Lenin Square, near the Drama Theater. We see that a lot of people have gathered in the square. Many with movie cameras, the whole space is packed. There were even people on the roofs of five-story buildings, - recalls Valentin Rozhkov in a conversation with a RP correspondent. - There were several forklifts with vertical booms, there were also TV people with cameras on the platforms above. We walked up to one such forklift and asked, “What happened?” And we are told that the cosmonauts, Leonov and Belyaev, should be brought soon. They landed either near Romanov, where there was a military base, or near Vogulka. We decided that it was just nonsense, we did not believe it.
Soon, the director of the plant, Igor Barabashkin, called Rozhkov into his office and told about the conversation with the Minister of Defense, Marshal Malinovsky. He said that somewhere on the territory of the timber industry enterprise, where Rozhkov worked, astronauts had landed. And so he urgently needs to go home to raise all the people in search of them.
By seven o'clock in the evening I reached our timber industry enterprise - the road to it from Berezniki was about 90 km. Everyone was waiting for me there - the party committee, the trade union committee, foremen, and foremen, because the order to start the search arrived before me. We have formed search parties. In each of them there were three people from those who skied well - there were no roads in this area then, and the snow was very deep that year. One of the triplets was our chief forester Nikolai Kozhukhov and Ivan Fedoseev from the neighboring Oshchepkovsky timber industry enterprise. We supplied all the groups with food and sent them in full gear to the operating plots of the timber industry. There they spent the night in the wagons, in order to recover at dawn in search.
“They brought all the carpets and flowers in pots to the hut”
About what happened next, Valentin Rozhkov knows from the stories of the forester Nikolai Kozhukhov. As soon as it began to get light, the group, which included Kozhukhov and Fedoseev, took a bus to the village of Kurganovka. There, the searchers asked the locals if they had seen anything unusual - maybe a parachute descending or some kind of explosion, noise.
One of the village boys said that on the evening of March 19, he was returning home from a neighboring village and saw something big and red descend from the sky, and something else black hung under it. Showed the direction. This is the direction the skiers went. search party to comb the taiga.
On March 22, in the evening, foresters finally found the frozen astronauts. When they came out to their fire, Alexei Leonov shook hands with them and asked where the ship had landed. Upon learning that they were in the Usolsky district of the Perm region (in Perm region it was renamed in 2005. - RP), asked the second question: “How many kilometers to military base in Romanov? Hearing that somewhere around 90-100, Leonov told Belyaev: “You see, a second earlier than necessary, manual braking was turned on, and therefore we did not reach Romanov.”
If they got to the rocket men, then no one would have known anything about this story, ”says Rozhkov. - Then Leonov asked the skiers if they had bread with them: by the time they were found, the astronauts had already pretty much missed ordinary food. Our guys treated them to everything that was in their backpacks. The astronauts responded by sharing tubes of food with them. Then they took a non-disclosure agreement from the guys, they had to remain silent. But it is understandable: they said on the radio that the astronauts had been resting in a hotel for a long time, and they were freezing in the remote taiga, they did not know whether they would be found or not.
During the search, the phone at the timber industry simply broke - everyone wanted to know if there was a result.
And we ourselves did not know anything, - says Rozhkov. - They were waiting for Leonov and Belyaev to be brought to Shemeiny, preparing to solemnly meet them: they brought all the carpets and flowers in pots that we had into one of the huts, composed words of welcome. And we were very upset when we realized that they would not get to us. As it turned out later, the cosmonauts were taken on skis to Kurganovka, from there they were taken by helicopter to Bolshoye Savino, and then sent by plane to Baikonur.
"Everyone flaunted in orange silk"
On March 23, another helicopter arrived at the timber industry enterprise. Three colonels came out of it and asked Valentin Rozhkov to find them a good lumberjack. They explained that it was necessary to cut down the trees around the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, which was stuck in them, so that it could be evacuated. We still need to clear the area so that a helicopter can land on it. This request confused the chief mechanic of the timber industry enterprise: every single feller at that time was in the taiga.
It was such a relief when I suddenly heard how a chainsaw started working somewhere in the village near the boiler house! I called the stoker and asked who was sawing. It turned out that Vasya Nasedkin - he was our helper at the base. I explained that there is one person, but he is not an expert. They decided to see it for themselves. Then they said that it would fit, let it fly. Only at first they sent home to take a supply of chains, gasoline and change into clean clothes - Vasya's overalls were dirty. Before the flight, I explained to the helicopter pilots that first, lower Vasya down the ladder, and then throw down the fuel tanks and the chainsaw. But they got it all mixed up and did the opposite. Vasya went downstairs, but there was no gasoline, everything leaked out. I had to take another flight.
And already in April, the main heroes of the search - foresters Nikolai Kozhukhov and Ivan Fedoseev - were summoned to Moscow. There, during the program, which was filmed on Central Television, they presented the pilot-cosmonauts with memorable gifts from the inhabitants of the Kama region.
We all puzzled over what to give as a gift. We decided to give Leonov our main working tool - the Druzhba chainsaw, and Belyaev - a stuffed fox. Then, about a month later, a military commissar from the Perm region flew to our timber industry and gave all three of them - Kozhukhov, Fedoseev and Vasya Nasedkin - memorable wrist watch on which was engraved: “March 19, 1965. For the fulfillment of a particularly important state task. Defense Minister Marshal Malinovsky. We were amazed that the watch was Swiss - we did not know then that such things existed. And the guys found in the taiga two orange parachutes, on which he landed spacecraft and sewed shirts out of them. Almost everyone was flaunting in orange silk! Those were unforgettable times!
Memoirs of a participant in ensuring the landing of the descent vehicle of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft
Vladimir NAUMKIN
45 years have passed since the crew of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, having completed their task, returned to earth. They were Lieutenant Colonel P. I. Belyaev and Major A. A. Leonov. In that space experiment, cosmonaut Leonov first went into outer space, retired from the ship at a distance of up to 5 meters and spent twelve minutes outside the airlock. Unfortunately, the landing was carried out not at the calculated point near the city of Kustanai, where the search forces and means were concentrated, but about 200 km north of Perm in the remote taiga, where no one expected or met the astronauts.
I, who at that time was in the position of the right pilot - assistant commander of the Mi-6 helicopter, had to become a direct participant and witness of those events, which I would like to tell about ...
The work to ensure the landing of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was planned for the next day after the launch, i.e. March 19, 1965
The weather at the calculated point of descent, and it was located seventeen kilometers southwest of the city of Kustanai, was flying. Ten-point cloudiness, lower edge 200 m, visibility two kilometers, slight haze. Taking off and gaining a height of 150 m, we headed southwest. After twenty minutes of flight, we went to the landing area and stood in a circle. The underlying surface is flat steppe. Four Mi-4 helicopters also occupied their areas along the descent route. Above the clouds on high
1200 - 2400 m circled the crews of the Il-14 aircraft. Even higher at an altitude of 5400 m - the An-12 relay aircraft, which provided continuous communication from the place of the proposed landing to command post search and rescue service in Moscow.
At the estimated time, having received a command from the command post of Kustanay "Everyone to be at the reception", radio silence reigned. Everyone was waiting for the appearance in the headphones of the characteristic signals given from the descent vehicle.
Here it is necessary to make a small digression ...
The mode of descent and entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere is accompanied by a strong heating of the body of the descent vehicle, the temperature of which reaches 1200° - 1500°. It is impossible to transmit anything from the ship at this moment, and signals appear only when the speed decreases and the parachute compartment cover is fired and the parachute opens.
All crews look at their watches. The estimated time is up, and the headphones still have only a slight background sound and crackling. We didn't hear any signals. From the crews of the aircraft, who could see the descent vehicle visually, there is no information either.
The silence was “broken” by the exclamation of the head of the search area: “All crews at their heights should proceed to the Kustanai airfield, urgently refuel and wait for further instructions.” Returning and refueling, we received an order to urgently fly to Sverdlovsk and, if there was enough daylight, then go to Perm.
The day was already drawing to a close, and there was little daylight left. The fuel filled in Kustanai was clearly not enough to continue the flight to Perm. Refueling was necessary, which was promptly done at the Koltsovo airfield (Sverdlovsk). Requesting permission to take off was denied. We were ready to fly at night at a given flight level, but at that time the attitude towards helicopter pilots, and the helicopter as an aircraft, was biased, and all flights were carried out only during daylight hours with visual visibility of earth landmarks.
We were forced to stay overnight. Only two crews on Mi-4 helicopters, which were reserve at the Kustanai airfield and did not fly into the search areas, managed to safely fly to the place with refueling in Koltsovo and land in the city of Perm (Bolshoe Savino airfield) at dusk.
After spending the night at the aviation commandant's office, the next day early in the morning we flew to Perm. The flight time was two hours and ten minutes. By the time we arrived at the Bolshoe Savino airfield, an An-12 aircraft landed, delivering an evacuation group from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Having loaded their property, they began to wait for the report of the crew of the Mi-4 helicopter, which took off at dawn and had to find a site near the descent vehicle, and also determine the possibility of landing the Mi-6 helicopter. Having received a report on readiness for reception at the site through a repeater aircraft that “hovered” over the landing site, we took off and, gaining an altitude of 200 m, headed north. The weather was great. There was not a cloud in the sky, visibility was more than ten kilometers, the temperature overboard was minus 5 ° C. The bright spring sun gave confidence that everything would end well and that the astronauts would be delivered to the “mainland” by evening. Let me remind you that they have already spent one night in the taiga.
One hour and thirty-two minutes later, we flew up to the emergency landing site of the descent vehicle of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. All around, as far as the horizon, stretched the taiga. The crew of the repeater aircraft, seeing us, gave the command to turn right. Soon we saw a bright white-orange parachute (area 1000 m2) right in front of us, which was spread out on the tops of tall fir trees. Having made a turn and looked around, we saw a small clearing five kilometers away and the Mi-4 helicopter that was on it, the crew of which radioed that they were ready to receive us at this site, warning that it was of a limited size and that it had deep snow cover, typical for the foothills Ural. Having passed over the site, we were convinced that the landing would not be easy. Going along a steep glide path, we descended and hovered above the tops of the surrounding forest. The snow was so fluffy that, lifted by the flow from the main rotor, it sometimes covered the visible space. After hanging for a while and making sure that everything around is clearly visible, we began a vertical decline. The snow on the site reached a depth of two meters. When the landing was made, the fuselage lay completely on the snow. The forward blister of the navigator was half covered with snow, the wheels of the main struts and the front strut were completely sunk in the snow. The helicopter actually lay on the "belly". The round blister for the radio compass antenna, which was located under the fuselage, as it turned out later, was crushed. The first impatient passengers from the operational group tried to get out of the helicopter, but, being waist-deep in snow, were forced to return back on board and put on their skis.
Turning off the engines and looking around, we were convinced that it would not be easy to work in such conditions. The world immediately narrowed to the size of a clearing bordered by tall trees. Around the taiga, trees 30-40 m high, in the forest are brown and snow, which can only be navigated on skis. On the edge of the site stood two log houses, under the roof of which people once lived, possibly Old Believers. Now, with no windows or doors, they looked like lonely orphans.
The first night of the astronauts in the forest has passed. Warm clothing dropped from a civilian helicopter of the Perm air squadron the day before did not reach its goal. Without skis, the astronauts simply could not get to it. The task arose of how we can now get to the descent vehicle, how to evacuate the astronauts from the remote taiga.
To reinforce the search group, a Mi-1 helicopter was attached, which, having completed additional reconnaissance of the area, discovered the site, if it can be called so. In fact, this is a light forest, the height of the trees of which was not higher than 4 meters, and which was located at a distance of two kilometers from the descent vehicle.
A group of three people, who arrived from Baikonur, landed on this platform from hovering, and moved on skis towards the object. At the same time, another operational-technical group moved from the side of a large platform, which, as I said, was located at a distance of five kilometers from the landing site and on which the headquarters of the rescue operation was deployed. Rescuers periodically indicated their movement in the taiga by launching signal rockets, and the direction of their movement was corrected from a helicopter.
Today, assessing that situation after several decades, I would do the following: the crew of the Mi-4 helicopter, located on a large site, had to take on board a lumberjack, who had already been delivered to the site with a Druzhba chainsaw and land him with hovering at the descent vehicle with a winch.
For a professional lumberjack, 1-1.5 hours of work would be quite enough to, after felling several trees, prepare a small area for landing this or another helicopter and evacuating the astronauts.
But then Moscow took over the leadership of this entire operation, which banned all work from hovering at the landing site.
The evacuation went differently and the cosmonauts were forced to spend one more night in the taiga.
After an emergency landing, the entire regional leadership was raised to its feet. Food delivery was organized both to the cosmonauts themselves (by dropping from a helicopter) and to a large platform where the helicopter crews were located and the headquarters of the leadership was located. The first secretary of the Perm regional committee of the CPSU, comrade Konoplev, was also present on the site, who, to the best of his ability and ability, provided assistance. I witnessed his extreme indignation when one of the participants in this operation expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that they were fed only smoked sausage. Konoplev replied: “Residents of my region have not seen it on store shelves for months, and you are stuck here, give them a restaurant menu.” And he was right. For smoked sausage then many went to Moscow.
But the work went on. The groups continued to move towards the descent vehicle. From the air, the astronauts dropped warm clothing, tents, drinking water, food. Lumberjacks with chainsaws were delivered from the surrounding timber industry enterprises, who began to prepare a small site for the arrival of the astronauts. The search groups, with an interval of several hours, finally reached the place of landing of the astronauts, but there could be no question of evacuation that day, and it assumed that the astronauts would go to a small area, because. daylight hours were short, and skiing through the forest at night was risky. I convinced myself that there was a certain risk when I decided to ski around the perimeter of our site. In one of its corners I saw the footprints of a bear, whose paws in the snow were one and a half human feet. An awakened, disturbed and hungry predator posed a certain danger to humans. Moreover, lynxes were also found in the forest.
By the end of the day on March 20, a command was received for our crew to return back to Perm, and the crews of Mi-4 helicopters (there were already three of them) to spend the night on the site. Tired (that day we were in the air for a total of 5 hours 19 minutes) and not satisfied with the result, we settled in the airfield hotel for the night in order to fly back to the site early in the morning.
For the cosmonauts, this was the second night in the taiga, and for relatives and friends, as well as for journalists and photojournalists who arrived in Perm, this was another postponement of the meeting for an indefinite period.
At dawn, we again fly to the site. One hour and twenty minutes of flight, and we are again in the landing area. At this time, the movement of P.I. Belyaeva, A.A. Leonov and their entourage on skis in the direction of a small platform. By the time they arrived, the Mi-4 helicopter was already on the site. A handshake with the crew, and the astronauts will be relocated to a large platform. Transfer them to our board, and we fly to Perm. My first impressions of the astronauts: tired, but happy for a successful outcome. Leonov was more energetic. Throughout the flight, Alexei Arkhipovich sat in the place of the flight radio operator and, leaning on an extended table, filled out postcards, signing autographs at the end. When we arrived in Perm for the night, he did not fail to take the newspaper Izvestia with large portraits of two cosmonauts on the front pages. I still have this newspaper with autographs, as a memory of those events of forty-five years ago.
After landing on the runway, taxiing to the platform. We see crowds of people meeting. We turn off the engines.
People approached the helicopter, but for some reason, on the wrong side of the side, where the main exit was. At that time, the Mi-6 helicopter was exotic for many people, they saw it for the first time. But as soon as the onboard mechanic opened the door of the cargo compartment and installed the gangway, everyone rushed there, knocking each other down, forgetting about elementary ethics. On the other hand, one can understand a photojournalist of some newspaper, and even more so of a central one, who by hook or by crook got to Perm, lived somewhere on bird's rights, was waiting for this long-awaited moment and suddenly risked being without the coveted photograph of two smiling cosmonauts, already descending the ladder.
First hugs, kisses, interviews. But for us, the work is not over. A descent vehicle remained in the taiga, which had to be rescued and delivered to the airfield.
On March 22, at dawn, we again headed for the site. The day before, after the departure of the cosmonauts, a dozen lumberjacks landed at the landing site, and they began to prepare a site for the evacuation of the object. It was necessary to prepare a clearing measuring 70 x 200 m, which was done by our arrival.
To manage the operation to pick up the SA, I was instructed to take a command radio station with me, sit in the Mi-1 helicopter allocated for me, fly over and land directly at the object, which was done without any difficulty. Difficulties began later, when it was necessary for me with the radio station to step aside at least fifty meters for the convenience of management. But it's easy to say back off... who would have known how hard it would be to do that in real life. Imagine my situation: snow up to two meters deep, crowns of centuries-old trees felled in a chaotic manner, and a radio station weighing 15 kg behind my back on straps. This move took me about an hour and a half. What it cost me, only I know.
Having “equipped” his temporary command post, he turned on the radio station and transmitted through the repeater aircraft that he was ready to receive the Mi-6 helicopter. The approach, damping speed, hanging and hooking up the SA with a cable 25 m long did not cause any difficulties. After two or three corrective commands, the crew safely picked up the object and delivered it to Perm.
It is not right to blame any of them for the delay in the evacuation of the astronauts. They did their job in accordance with the instructions of the higher management and in strict accordance with the instructions of the pilot and flight safety instructions.
Of course, two nights spent by Belyaev and Leonov in the forest is a big failure for the search service. It is difficult to explain to the whole world why, after such a brilliant experiment, the astronauts were kept in the forest for two days.
Reinsurance at the top, as well as flaws in the organization of the rescue work, left a certain negative imprint on the entire search and rescue service.
this work showed that coordinated and quick actions to organize the search and evacuation of people in distress on land and on water require the combined efforts of all departments that have available aircraft and ground-based search facilities.
We came to this somewhat later, when the Unified State Aviation Search and Rescue Service (EGA PSS) was organized.
Currently Naumkin Vladimir Alexandrovich works as Deputy Director of the Central House of Aviation and Cosmonautics.
Soviet manned spaceship. For the first time in the world, an astronaut stepped out of the cockpit of a spacecraft into outer space.
Flight preparation
After the first successful flight of the Voskhod-1 multi-seat spacecraft, the following goal was set - to carry out an astronaut's exit into open space. The mission was milestone Soviet lunar program.
The ship "Voskhod-2" was modified in comparison with the ship "Voskhod-1". The Voskhod-1 spacecraft had a crew of three cosmonauts. The cabin of the ship was so cramped that the astronauts made this flight without spacesuits. The Voskhod-2 ship had two places for astronauts, and the Volga inflatable airlock was installed on the ship. During the launch, the lock chamber was in a folded state, in this state it had dimensions: diameter 70 cm, length 77 cm. The weight of the lock chamber was 250 kg. In space, the airlock inflated. Its dimensions in the inflated state were: outer diameter 1.2 meters, inner diameter 1.0 meters, length 2.5 meters. Before the spacecraft deorbited and landed, the lock chamber fired back from the spacecraft.
In July 1964, a crew was appointed to fly on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. Main crew: Pavel Belyaev commander and Alexei Leonov pilot, backup crew: Viktor Gorbatko and Evgeny Khrunov. Later, Dmitry Zaikin was also involved in preparing for the flight.
For spacewalks, the NPO Zvezda created a special Berkut spacesuit. EVA training was carried out in the Tu-104 aircraft. In the cabin of the Tu-104, a life-size model of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was installed. The training took place during a brief state of weightlessness, which occurred during the flight along a parabolic trajectory.
On February 9, 1965, it was finally decided that Belyaev and Leonov would go into space, Zaikin and Khrunov would be backups. Gorbatko was considered a substitute.
Before the start, only Belyaev, Leonov and Khrunov put on spacesuits. That is, in fact, just before the start, only Evgeny Khrunov was an understudy, who was prepared to perform the functions of both commander and pilot, and, if necessary, could replace either Belyaev or Leonov.
Airlock chamber of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft and space suit for spacewalk
Technical data
- Ship mass: 5682 kg
- Perigee: 167 km
- Apogee: 475 km
- Orbital inclination: 64.8°
- Orbital period: 90.9 min
- Distance covered: 717.330 km
Flight
Voskhod-2 was launched on March 18, 1965 at exactly 10 am Moscow time from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
Immediately after entering orbit, already on the first orbit, the airlock was inflated. Before leaving, both cosmonauts were in spacesuits. Belyaev was ready, in case of unforeseen circumstances, to help Leonov return to the ship. The spacewalk began on the second orbit. Belyaev opened the hatch into the lock chamber from the control panel. Leonov in a spacesuit moved into the airlock. Belyaev closed the hatch behind him and began to depressurize the chamber. At this time the ship was over Egypt. At 11 hours 32 minutes 54 seconds Belyaev opened the outer hatch of the lock chamber, Alexei Leonov remained in the vacuum of space. At 11 hours 34 minutes 51 seconds, Leonov swam into the airless space. Five times Leonov moved away from the ship and returned to it. Leonov was connected to the ship with a halyard, the length of which was 5.35 meters. Leonov sailed over the Black Sea, over the Caucasus Range, over the Volga, over the Irtysh, over the Yenisei. The pressure in the cosmonaut's spacesuit was maintained constant and equal to 0.4 atm., which ensured the normal functioning of the organism, but did not allow the spacesuit to become too rigid. The hermetic shell protected the astronaut from ultraviolet radiation, radiation, a large temperature difference, provided a normal temperature regime, the desired gas composition and humidity of the environment.
At 11:47 a.m., Leonov returned to the lock chamber. At 11 hours 48 minutes 40 seconds, the outer hatch of the lock chamber was closed and after three minutes air was blown. The exit ended when the ship flew over Yakutia.
Alexei Leonov in outer space.
Postal block USSR Voskhod-2. Triumph of the Land of the Soviets, 1965. The image of the ship does not correspond to reality
Two television cameras were installed on the outer surface of the ship, which transmitted the image to Earth.
In free flight, Leonov was 12 minutes and 9 seconds, after which he returned to the airlock. The return to the airlock was complicated by the fact that Leonov's spacesuit was greatly swollen. Only after Leonov reduced the air pressure inside the spacesuit, he was able to pass into the airlock.
The landing of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was supposed to take place after 17 turns in automatic mode, but the automation did not work. The ship made another orbit around the Earth. On the next orbit, the ship's commander, Pavel Belyaev, switched the ship to manual control. Due to the fact that the seats of the astronauts in the Voskhod spacecraft were rotated 90 degrees relative to the control panel, manual control of the spacecraft was impossible if the astronauts were fastened in the seat "in the landing way". Therefore, Pavel Belyaev had to unfasten himself, orient the ship, prepare to turn on the TDU, return to the seat, buckle up and turn on the TDU. It took 22 seconds to return to the seat and buckle up, which resulted in a flight approximately 165 km to the northeast. As a result, the ship landed at an off-design point, which is located approximately 75 kilometers northwest of the city of Berezniki.
Landing took place in the snowy taiga, far from settlements. The cosmonauts spent three days in the taiga until they were discovered and rescuers arrived. However, the helicopter could not land nearby. The landing site for the helicopter was equipped the next day, 9 km from the place where the astronauts landed. The astronauts and rescuers got to the helicopter on skis. The cosmonauts were taken by helicopter to Perm. In the evening, the cosmonauts flew to Baikonur.
Having made the first spacewalk, the Soviet cosmonauts again outstripped the Americans. Only two and a half months later, the first spacewalk was made by American astronaut Edward White.
The flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was the last manned flight of the Voskhod-class spacecraft. Previously, a long, up to 15 days, manned flight on the Voskhod-3 spacecraft was planned, but this flight was cancelled. A long flight of the ship "Voskhod" was carried out with the dogs Veterok and Ugolyok on board. This flight began on February 22, 1966 and lasted 20 days. This was the last flight of the Voskhod spacecraft.
At that time, a new manned spacecraft Soyuz was being developed in the Soviet Union, which made its first flight with an astronaut on board in April 1967.
From a TASS message on March 18, 1965
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Today, March 18, 1965, at 11:30 Moscow time, during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, a man's exit into outer space was carried out for the first time. On the second circuit of the flight, co-pilot pilot-cosmonaut Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, in a special spacesuit with an autonomous life support system, made an exit into outer space, retired from the ship at a distance of up to five meters, successfully carried out a set of planned studies and observations and safely returned to the ship. With the help of the on-board television system, the process of Comrade Leonov's exit into outer space, his work outside the spacecraft and his return to the spacecraft were transmitted to Earth and observed by a network of ground stations. The state of health of Comrade Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov during his stay outside the ship and after returning to the ship is good. The commander of the ship, comrade Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev, is also feeling well. |
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On March 18, 1965, our country entered another milestone in space exploration. The two-seat Voskhod-2 spacecraft was launched into the Earth's orbit, which had the task of conducting a new experiment for mankind - a man's exit into outer space. This event was followed by the whole country. Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov was outside the Voskhod-2 spacecraft for only 12 minutes, but those minutes were forever included in astronautics.
The brave Soviet cosmonaut, getting out of the hatch of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, took a step into history. It easily separated from the ship and swam to the side for the length of its tether, which was connected to the spacecraft. Before returning back to the ship, the cosmonaut removed the movie camera from the bracket, wrapped a halyard around his hand and entered the airlock. Especially for the spacewalk, specialists from NPO Zvezda developed the Berkut spacesuit. And the spacewalk training itself was carried out on board the Tu-104 aircraft, in which a life-size model of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was installed. Some time later, the Americans also made their spacewalk, but this happened already on June 3, 1965, so the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov forever remained the first person to go into outer space.
On March 18, 1965, the first space walk in the history of mankind caused a real shock and delight in the world. It is important to understand that this happened at a time when the US and the USSR were in a very intense competition for supremacy in the field of space exploration. The flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft was regarded at that moment as a very serious propaganda success for the country of the Soviets, and also as a blow to the national pride of the Americans.
Suit "Berkut"
It is clear that for a person to survive in a vacuum, special clothes were needed, the development of which was undertaken by the NPO Zvezda. On their first flights, Soviet cosmonauts went in SK-1 rescue suits, which weighed only 30 kg. They were equipped with autonomous oxygen supply in case of a possible accident, and also had positive buoyancy - in case, instead of landing, the astronauts were waiting for a splashdown. However, for spacewalking and active work, fundamentally different “suits” were needed, which would have protection from solar radiation and cosmic cold, a thermoregulation system, and a powerful life support system.
Especially for going into space, the Berkut spacesuit was created, it differed significantly from the model in which the astronauts flew on the Vostoks. To increase its reliability, an additional reserve hermetic shell was introduced into the composition of the suit. The top overalls were sewn from a special metallized multilayer fabric - screen-vacuum insulation. In fact, the suit was a thermos, which consisted of several layers of plastic film coated with aluminum. A special gasket made of screen-vacuum insulation was also installed in shoes and gloves. Outdoor clothing was supposed to protect the astronaut from possible mechanical damage to the sealed part of the spacesuit, since such clothing was made of very durable artificial fabrics that were not afraid of low and high temperatures. At the same time, the suit became significantly heavier, added weight to it and new system life support. This system was in a special knapsack and included, in addition to the ventilation system, two oxygen cylinders, two liters each. A fitting for filling them and a pressure gauge window were fixed on the body of the knapsack, designed to control pressure. In case of an emergency, there was a backup oxygen system in the lock chamber, which was connected to the suit with a hose.
The total weight of the new suit was close to 100 kg. Therefore, during terrestrial training, the astronauts had to ride in a kind of “runner”, which supported the rigid part of the spacesuit. However, under weightless conditions, the weight of the suit did not play any significant role. Significantly more interference was created by air pressure, which filled the hermetic shell, making the suit unyielding and rigid. The astronauts had to overcome the resistance of their own vestments with noticeable effort. Later, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov recalled: "For example, to squeeze a hand in a glove, a force of 25 kg was needed." It is for this reason that great attention was paid to physical fitness during the preparation of astronauts for flight. Every day, Soviet cosmonauts ran cross-country skis or cross-country skis, intensively engaged in weightlifting and gymnastics.
The color of the suit has also changed. "Berkut", in order to better reflect the sun's rays, was made white, not orange. A special light filter appeared on his helmet, which was supposed to protect the astronaut's eyes from bright sunlight. The created suit became a real miracle of technology. According to the firm conviction of its creators, it was a product more complex than a car.
Voskhod-2 spacecraft
After the first successful flight into space of the multi-seat Voskhod-1 spacecraft, the following goal was set in the USSR - the implementation of a manned spacewalk. This event was to become a significant milestone in the Soviet lunar program. To prepare for this mission, the new Voskhod 2 spacecraft was modified from Voskhod 1.
The Voskhod-1 spacecraft had a crew of 3 cosmonauts. At the same time, the cabin of the ship was so cramped that they were on board without spacesuits. In the ship "Voskhod-2" the number of seats was reduced to two. At the same time, a special lock chamber "Volga" appeared on the ship. During the launch, this lock chamber was in the folded state. In this state, the dimensions of the chamber were: diameter - 70 cm, length - 77 cm. The lock chamber weighed 250 kg. In space, the airlock inflated. The dimensions of the chamber in the inflated state were: length - 2.5 meters, outer diameter - 1.2 meters, inner diameter - 1 meter. Before the spacecraft deorbited and landed, the lock chamber fired from the spacecraft.
Since the Voskhod-2 ship was designed for two people, in addition to Leonov, there should have been one more cosmonaut on it. One person was a navigator (he also went into outer space), the second was a commander who piloted the ship. Alexei Leonov was able to ensure that his friend Pavel Belyaev took the place of commander on his ship. Belyaev was 10 years older than his friend and met the end of World War II on Far East in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft, performing sorties against Japanese troops. He was a skilled and brave pilot. Leonov was able to achieve his appointment even though the doctors were very worried about the leg injury that Pavel Belyaev received while performing a parachute jump.
Alexey Leonov
Alexei Leonov was born in 1934 in the tiny village of Listvyanka, located in Western Siberia(Kemerovo region). When he was 3 years old, his father was repressed. The Leonovs were branded as enemies of the people, while the authorities turned a blind eye to the fact that their neighbors looted their property. However, Alexey is always reluctant to recall these events. Already in childhood, the boy discovered the talent of an artist in himself, but nevertheless decided to go the other way. He successfully completed military school and became a fighter pilot.
Shortly after graduating from college, Alexei received an offer to try his hand at a competition for a cosmonaut corps. Leonov managed to get a place in the detachment, he became one of its twenty members, among whom was Yuri Gagarin, who made the first flight into space in 1961.
At that time, no one knew how the human body would react to a spacewalk. For this reason, all Soviet cosmonauts were subjected to very intense training. The ongoing tests were to show how far it would be possible to push the mental and physical limits of the capabilities of the human body. Later, Alexei Leonov recalled: “The astronaut had to be physically prepared. Every day I ran at least 5 kilometers and swam 700 meters.
At one time, the cosmonaut training center banned the game of hockey. This happened after several people were injured during this game. In return, the astronauts were offered volleyball, basketball and football. Flights into space subjected the human body to high overloads. Therefore, during training, the candidates rotated in centrifuges - sometimes this led to loss of consciousness. Also, future cosmonauts were locked in a sound chamber or pressure chamber in conditions of prolonged loneliness. Such experiments were dangerous, since a fire could start in the oxygen-rich atmosphere of the chamber.
And such an accident really happened in 1961. Then, during a training session in a pressure chamber, Valentin Bondarenko accidentally dropped a cotton swab with alcohol on a closed spiral of a hot electric stove. As a result, the fireball literally swallowed him up. Bondarenko died a few hours later in the hospital from severe burns. After this incident, engineers began to use ordinary air during training. So the path to space was not only thorny and difficult, but also fraught with real dangers to life.
Spacewalk
Even the spacewalk itself could have ended tragically for Alexei Leonov, but then everything worked out, although a sufficient number of emergency situations were recorded during the flight. In the days of the USSR, they simply kept silent about this, the truth surfaced relatively recently. Troubles haunted the Voskhod-2 crew both during the spacewalk and at the time of landing, but in the end everything ended well, and Alexei Leonov is alive to this day, the famous Soviet cosmonaut turned 80 on May 30, 2014.
At that moment, when Alexei Leonov climbed out of his spaceship on March 18, 1965 and saw himself at an altitude of 500 kilometers above the surface of our planet, he did not feel movement at all. Although in fact he was rushing around the Earth at a speed that was many times higher than the speed of a jet aircraft. A panorama of our planet that no one had seen before opened before Alexei - like a giant canvas, which was saturated with contrasting textures and colors, alive and bright. Alexey Leonov will forever remain the first person who was able to see the Earth in all its splendor.
The Soviet cosmonaut at that moment simply took his breath away: “It’s hard to even imagine what it was. Only in space can one feel the greatness and gigantic dimensions. human environment environment - you will not feel this on Earth. Five times the cosmonaut flew away from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft and returned to it again. All this time, "room" temperature was successfully maintained in his spacesuit, while the working surface of the "Berkut" either warmed up in the sun to +60 ° C, then cooled in the shade to -100 ° C.
At that moment, when Alexei Leonov saw the Yenisei and the Irtysh, he received a command from the commander of the ship Belyaev to return back. But Leonov did not manage to do this for a very long time. It turned out that his spacesuit in a vacuum was greatly swollen. So much so that the astronaut simply could not squeeze into the hatch of the airlock, and there was no time to consult with the Earth about this situation. Leonov made attempt after attempt, but they all ended in vain, and the supply of oxygen in the spacesuit was enough for only 20 minutes, which inexorably melted away (the astronaut spent 12 minutes in space). In the end, Alexei Leonov decided to simply relieve pressure in his spacesuit and, contrary to the instructions issued, instructing him to enter the airlock with his feet, he decided to "swim" into it face first. Fortunately, he succeeded. And although Leonov spent only 12 minutes in outer space, during this time he managed to get wet as if a whole tub of water had been poured on him - the physical load was so great.
Solemn meeting of the crew members of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft - Pavel Belyaev (left) and Alexei Leonov, 1965
The second unpleasant situation occurred already at the exit from orbit. The crew of Voskhod-2 could have been the first crew to die while returning from orbit. During the descent to Earth, there was a problem with the detachable service module on board, which led to the rotation of the capsule with the astronauts, who experienced very strong overloads. The tumbling stopped only when the cable connecting this module completely burned out, and the capsule with the astronauts turned out to be free.
The second error crept into the calculations of the MCC engineers, as a result of which the capsule with the astronauts landed hundreds of kilometers from the calculated point. The astronauts ended up in the remote Siberian taiga. Only 7 hours after landing, a monitoring station in West Germany reported that it had detected a coded signal sent by the astronauts. As a result, the astronauts spent the night in the forest, waiting for rescuers. They had to leave the taiga on skis, but already there, on the “mainland”, they were greeted as real heroes and conquerors of space.
Information sources:
http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/598
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_9531/index.html
http://www.calend.ru/event/5984
http://www.sgvavia.ru/forum/95-4980-1
