Slashdot Mirror


First Man To Walk In Space Reveals How Mission Nearly Ended In Disaster

wired_parrot writes Nearly fifty years after the first spacewalk by soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, he's given a rare interview to the BBC revealing how the mission very nearly ended in disaster. Minutes after he stepped into space, Leonov realised his suit had inflated like a balloon, preventing him from getting back inside. Later on, the cosmonauts narrowly avoided being obliterated in a huge fireball when oxygen levels soared inside the craft. And on the way back to Earth, the crew was exposed to enormous G-forces, landing hundreds of kilometres off target in a remote corner of Siberia populated by wolves and bears.

3 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Wolves and Bears? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I always thought landing in an area surrounded by wolves and bears was part of the typical mission plan for Russian cosmonauts

  2. Re:Mars one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I doubt that Mars One colonists will need to deal with wolves and bears after landing.

  3. Re:Mars one? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps the first Mars One flight could have bears and wolves on board. These would be released (in special space suits) just prior to the human settlers, who will then have to battle these animals for food and survival. Mars One is just a reality show after all, and this would make for some great* television.

    I doubt that Mars One colonists will have to deal much with anything, by the way. My guess is that the people behind the venture have no plans to actually launch a single vehicle, but have a whole range of reality shows planned for "selecting" the "astronauts". They're probably just waiting for a network to pick them up, or for Endemol to buy the concept.

    *) for some definitions of "great"

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...