[amsat-bb] Alexei Leonov

[Daniel Schultz]

NPR just reported that Soviet/Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov has died at the
age of 85.

He was the first human to perform an EVA in 1965, beating American astronaut
Ed White by a few weeks. He was also the commander of the Soviet half of the
Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. Although it was kept a secret for many years, he
had been in training for a moon landing if the N-1 rocket had not failed in
1969.

Like several other space travelers, he took up painting in his retirement so
that he could convey some of what he saw on his space missions. 

Leonov and American astronaut David Scott wrote a dual memoir covering the
history of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, "Two
Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race". Highly recommend
that you get a copy of this book. 

I met him once in Washington DC at a space conference. He said that America
and Russia had always had a joint space program, because each country's
program needed the other one to survive. 

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

Dan Schultz N8FGV