Alexey Leonov: "We are all children of the Earth." Presidential Library marks the cosmonaut's birthday

May 30, 2024 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov, a legendary figure who took the first steps into outer space and became a twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

His name, along with Yuri Gagarin, is forever etched in the annals of history. This is evident in the following instance: once, while translating a 'space' article from a German magazine, Leonov came across an unfamiliar verb, 'leoniren,' as reported by the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on June 8, 1975. A digital copy of this issue is available in the collection of the Presidential Library. After searching dictionaries, he could not find the word. One of his friends suggested, 'Perhaps 'leoniren' means to fly in outer space.' There is nothing more prestigious than when they make new terms out of your surname."

Alexey Leonov performed the first spacewalk in the world four years after Yuri Gagarin's historic flight into Earth orbit. On the morning of March 18th, 1965, at the launch pad, Sergei Korolev, the chief designer of the spacecraft, hugged Alexey and said to him: "I will not give you many words of advice, but I have one request for you: Get out of the spacecraft and return to it. That's it..."

At 11:34 am Moscow time, during the second orbit around Earth, Alexey pushed off from the airlock of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft and glided smoothly until he reached the tension of a halyard, a cable connecting him to the spacecraft. In 12 minutes and 9 seconds, as Leonov floated in outer space, his spacecraft traveled the distance between the Black Sea and Sakhalin Island.

When I went into outer space, I exclaimed in admiration, "The Earth is round!" Leonov recalled in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolec newspaper (issue dated May 29, 2004), which can be found in the electronic collection of the Presidential Library. "There was the Black Sea right below me, with Greece and Italy lying in the palm of my hand," he said. "I raised my head and saw the Baltic, covering a circle with a diameter of 5,000 km with one glance. I saw the sun - bright, glaring - as if nailed to the sky, the blue Earth, and the unblinking stars." It was so quiet that he could hear himself breathing. When, in 1968, the movie "Space Odyssey 2001" was based on the story of Arthur C. Clarke, the heavy, ragged breathing of the cosmonaut was used as the background sound.

In July 1975, Alexey Leonov, as the commander of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft, completed the first international spaceflight with docking with the American Apollo spacecraft as part of the Soyuz–Apollo program. It is significant that the first handshake between a cosmonaut and an astronaut occurred at the time when the ships were flying over the Elba River. It was initially thought that this event would take place over Moscow, but as Alexey Leonov later told the journalists of Rossiyskaya Gazeta, "in the end, it turned out to be even more symbolic and meaningful. In May 1945, the Allied forces met on the banks of the Elba, and in July 1975, the representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States shook hands over the same river."

The successful docking was celebrated by the cosmonauts from both countries with a traditional Russian dish, borscht. The commander of Soyuz spacecraft wanted to trick his collegues. Leonov had previously prepared the food and pasted labels with names of popular Soviet brands of voska, such as "Stolichnaya" and "Moskovskaya," on the containers. The American astronauts, who were unaware of Leonov's prank, initially refused to try the food, but eventually gave in and were disappointed to find out that it was not vodka. Leonov once said that, regardless of his high position, the most important thing for a person is "to maintain a human touch and spontaneity". This "touch" has always been present in him. He was never afraid to speak his mind, enjoyed spending time in the sauna with friends, playing in the snow, telling jokes, singing and drawing.

The future cosmonaut has had a passion for painting since his childhood. In his early years, he even traded a month's worth of rations for his first album of paintings by Aivazovsky, whose talent he admired. As a schoolboy, he kept a diary, and on its front cover he wrote, "My destiny is my own." This is true. Painting has always been a part of his life, a gift given to him from birth. For forty years, alongside his main job, he has been working on painting the beautiful Space. If he hadn't become an astronaut, he probably would have achieved even more as an artist, Leonov said in an interview with journalists from Moskovsky Komsomolets.The proofs of the great talent of artist Alexey Leonov are also available through the Presidential Library's collection, which includes digital copies of his work.

At the opening of an exhibition of Alexey Leonov's paintings in Minsk, which was reported on in the newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussiya on May 5, 2009, Leonov was asked about his preference between Earth and space. He stated that while space may be beautiful and unique, but the diversity and greatness of Earth is far greater. He explained that Earthly landscapes are endless and unique.

Leonov recalled that, after leaving his ship in airless space in 1965, he thought, "It was like a divine painting. Stars were everywhere - above, below ... And the Earth floated below me. Such impressions changed a person. When cosmonauts and astronauts get together, we don't divide each other into 'whites' and 'colored', Russians, Americans or Europeans. We're all children of Earth, children of God."

A crater on the Moon was named after the famous cosmonaut. There are also many streets in Russia named after him. In 1965, Leonov became an "Honorary Citizen" of Kaliningrad, where he graduated from high school. In 2012, the international airport in Kemerovo was also named after him, as he was born and spent his childhood near that city. Documents about these events can be found in the library collection.

A special electronic collection titled Outer Space is dedicated to exploring extraterrestrial space. It can be accessed on the portal of the Presidential Library. The collection contains periodicals, books, and newsreel footage that reflect various milestones in the development of astronautics. It includes materials related to Alexey Leonov, who was the first person to go into outer space.