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.
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.
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.
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.
He retired from service in 1992.
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