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

Posted by timothy on from the complicated-endeavor dept.

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.

26 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. Still better off than Laika. by koan · · Score: 4, Informative

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  3. Neat interview by JoshuaZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The interview is neat, but this isn't anything being "revealed"- all these details were already known. You'll see them mentioned in many books discussing early space flight. They are I think mentioned for example in Buzz Aldrin's "Men from Earth".

    1. Re:Neat interview by sconeu · · Score: 2

      Hell, Leonov discussed it himself in the book he co-wrote with Dave Scott, Two Sides of the Moon.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  4. 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.

  5. The Russian space program was amazing by laird · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you see the Russian spacecraft, it's amazing how determined they were to compete, relatively successfully with the US space program, despite the fact that their manufacturing capabilities were not really up to the task. But they used whatever they had, and pushed hard. So, for example, while US spacecraft are beautiful, with aluminum skins with countersunk rivets to reduce drag, etc., the Russian vehicles looked like tractors - thick sheet metal and bolts, getting into space through sheer determination. It was particularly striking with how they got a third astronaut into their two-man ship, so they matched Apollo, by taking the third man and jamming him in upside down. They made the lead engineer who came up with that idea take the first flight, so he had the incentive to actually make it work. And their venus probes - those guys just didn't give up! But definitely playing by different rules than the US - after a vehicle failure, and we shut everything down and analyzed to make it safer. With the Russians, a vehicle failure meant re-writing the history books (to remove the failed flight, erase astronauts from photos, etc.) and launching _more_.

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    1. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by NotDrWho · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Russians had the genius Korolev all we Americans had was an old Nazi who no one even listened to until the Russians were already way ahead of us.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    2. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by Noryungi · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Your comment seems very condescending.

      Let's not forget the Russians were the first to send a satellite around the Earth, the first to send an animal into space, the first to send a man into space, the first to send a woman into space, the first to have a space mission that lasted more than a day, the first to have a spacewalk, the fist to send a satellite to orbit the Moon, the first to have fully automated rendez-vous between two satellites, etc., etc., etc.

      Sure, their spacecraft may look "ugly" (or at least, "uglier") than western or American ones, but they get the job done and they are reliable workhorses.

      I believe the differences between the two is mostly to the "no nonsense" approach to the Russians, and the fact that they like re-using designs and equipment that work instead of constantly re-inventing the wheel.

      Think about it this way: the USA created the space shuttle and sank billions of dollars into it. The Russians kept improving the Soyuz rockets and capsules. These days, the space shuttle has been retired, while both Soyuz still fly regularly. Which approach is better? I don't know, but you certainly can't blame the Russians for creating "ugly" machines, as long as they are functional and good at what they do.

      Recommended viewing: "The Red Stuff" about the very first Cosmonaut class of the USSR. You can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
    3. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by anegg · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't think Robert Goddard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard was a Nazi.

      I know that Robert Goddard's time came before the "Space Race". I just want to make the point that we Americans didn't just have our prize from WWII, Wernher von Braun to inform us about rocketry.

      In the interests of full disclosure, I was born and raised in Massachusetts, which may explain my more immediate familiarity with Robert Goddard.

    4. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by LWATCDR · · Score: 2

      "Think about it this way: the USA created the space shuttle and sank billions of dollars into it. The Russians kept improving the Soyuz rockets and capsules."
      Hummm
      "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)"
      They spent billions trying to copy the space shuttle.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    5. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Don't forget, Soviet Russian was the first to send a manned mission outside our solar system.

      It was a one-way flight by mistake; the guy screamed until he ran out of air, but, hey, it's gotta count for something.

      A USA Naval aviator told me that the Soviet Russians did only what was necessary in flight--titantium on the leading edges and not entire wings; rivets unleveled where it didn't matter instead of everywhere like the USA. The Soviets Russians didn't economize; it's that they didn't have to put on a "beauty pageant" like the USA manufacturers who were going against competitors and "pretty" was necessary to win. Plus, Soviet Russian Theology valued the lives of their cosmonauts as an expedable commodity.

    6. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      The Russians had their Space Shuttle as well, the Buran. But they applied the same principles and approach to engineering to it; apparently it was a much simpler and better integrated design than the extremely complex Space Shuttle. The thing only flew once, sadly, so it's hard to say how they would have compared in reliability and performance.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    7. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2

      The SOVIETS, not the Russians. The Soviet Union conquered many different ethnic groups for their empire, and the Russians were only one of them.

      I think a lot of people forget that Russia was just the first nation to fall to the Soviets. Just like Germany was the first nation to fall to the Nazis.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    8. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes they did, but they didn't abandon their existing, working infrastructure to do so. That is the difference.

    9. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by tibit · · Score: 2

      Apparently they tconcluded that Soyuz is better

      What a fantasy. All that happened was bad timing, they've run out of money everywhere all at once. Buran had a few quite nifty advances in its manufacturing tech over the way the american shuttles were made. They built a 3D CAD system to design the thing, for crying out loud.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    10. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by FatAlb3rt · · Score: 2

      Going away from the space shuttles had just as much to do with budget cuts - Congress simply isn't as interested in space exploration. Private companies will do it cheaper and we will eventually get back to something like a space shuttle.

    11. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by k6mfw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you see the Russian spacecraft, it's amazing how determined they were to compete, relatively successfully with the US space program,

      James Harford in the 1997 book "Korolev" he interviewed several of Sergei Korolev colleages and one of them said when Kennedy announced the race to the Moon, the Soviets can either get in the race or not. They did neither. There were those in Politburo very interested in manned spaceflight, others that were not ("stop wasting resources with man in space which is only good for propaganda instead of actual military hardware). When Khrushchev was ":sent to Siberia" Korolev lost much support. He was able to proceed with Soyuz, N1 (he was also chief of many other programs) but their space program was not given all resources. So there was not enough resources for development and ground tests, N1 never had successful launch, Soyuz had it's growing pains and its first manned flight was a fatality.

      I wonder if our space program is experiencing this "we're doing neither." No shortcuts are being taken in SLS and Orion development but there is no significant funding for landers and habitat modules. And where is US going? Moon, Mars, or an asteroid? Depends on who you talk to.

      --
      mfwright@batnet.com
    12. Re:The Russian space program was amazing by LWATCDR · · Score: 2

      Actually the Apollo could have worked fine for that. A small hab module around the size of the LM and an improved Saturn 1 with a single F1A or F1B and SRBs could have reached the Hubble.
      The Shuttle is frankly a really flexible system but it would have been good if we had kept the Saturns and Apollos for some missions. Face it the Saturn V was the original HLLV.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  6. Re:Mars one? by Therad · · Score: 2

    Why would anyone want to see the landing if there are no bears and wolves? Landing without dangerrous animals is soooo 1969.

  7. 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...
  8. Only revealing thing... by denzacar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...is how when I first read about this back in the late '80s it was not "wolves and bears".

    It was A wolf, reported by the rescuers as "going in their direction".
    To which the cosmonauts, knowing what they've just been through, laughed.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    1. Re:Only revealing thing... by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

      It was A wolf, reported by the rescuers as "going in their direction".
      To which the cosmonauts, knowing what they've just been through, laughed.

      It would be kind of like asking an astronaut "But weren't you afraid of drowning when your pod splashed down?" ;-)

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    2. Re:Only revealing thing... by murdocj · · Score: 2

      One of them almost did drown, so it's a valid concern.

  9. Re:really? A fireball? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 2

    Other things become flammable in high oxygen environments, such as most metals and materials that any space craft would be built from.

  10. Re:Mars one? by ganjadude · · Score: 2

    They already have a prototype http://www.smithsonianstore.co...

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  11. Gus Grissom by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Interesting

    not only that, but no one believed him for years that the hatch blew. really messed him up mentally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same