Spacewalking pioneer Alexey Leonov celebrates 85th birthday (PHOTOS)

World-famous Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, who pioneered the now ubiquitous spacewalk and became an icon of space exploration, celebrated his 85th birthday while recovering from surgery on his leg Thursday.

Leonov in uniform in 1965. © Global Look Press

Born on May 30, 1934 in Listvyanka, West Siberia, the retired cosmonaut, Air Force Major general, writer, and artist carved out an illustrious career exploring space and pushing the boundaries of human achievement.

Alexei Leonov at the Sheremetyevo airfield. © RIA Novosti

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov at a training session at the Cosmonaut Training Center. © RIA Novosti

Cosmonauts Pavel Belyaev (left) and Alexei Leonov in the simulator of the Voskhod spacecraft. Training. © RIA Novosti

Alexey Leonov with his daughter Vika. 1965 © RIA Novosti

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov says goodbye to his wife before flying to the cosmodrome. © RIA Novosti

On March 18, 1965, he became the first human being to ever step out of a spacecraft into the void of open space, carrying out the world’s first extravehicular activity (EVA) by exiting the Voskhod 2 for a full 12-minute spacewalk.

First spacewalk in history © RIA Novosti

A shot from the documentary "In a spacesuit over the planet." Documentary motion pictures were made by the crew of the Voskhod-2 spaceship Pavel Belyaev and Alexey Leonov. © RIA Novosti

The crew of the spacecraft "Voskhod-2" cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev after landing. © Sputnik / Alexandr Mokretsov

Meeting of the crew of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev (left). Motorcade on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow, March 1965. © Sputnik / Yuri Somov

Meeting the crew of the spacecraft "Voskhod-2": Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev. A solemn meeting on Red Square. © Sputnik / Lev Ivanov

Leonov (C) with astronauts Donald K Slayton (L) and Vance D Brand, during the Apollo docking mission on July 28, 1975. © Reuters

He also commanded the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, in which the Soyuz capsule docked with the American Apollo capsule for two days in space, in the first joint space mission between the two superpowers.

Alexey Leonov presents to Tom Cruise his book before the film premiere of 'Oblivion' at the Oktyabr cinema hall on April 1, 2013 in Moscow, Russia ©  Getty Images / Epsilon / Gennadi Avramenko

Leonov and Valentina Tereshkova (L-R) at the funeral of Russia's former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov. © Pavelbednyakov

Leonov at a World War II commemoration in 2015. © Kremlin

He retired from service in 1992.

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