March 18 — the first-ever human spacewalk. The two-seat spacecraft “Voskhod 2” entered Earth orbit with the assignment to conduct a new experiment: a human exit into outer space.
Alexei Leonov remained outside “Voskhod 2” for about 12 minutes. After climbing out of the hatch, he pushed off lightly from the spacecraft and smoothly drifted away to the full length of the tether line connecting him to the ship. Before returning aboard, the cosmonaut removed the film camera from its bracket, wound the tether around his arm, and entered the airlock.
For the spacewalk, NPP Zvezda created a special spacesuit called “Berkut.” The spacewalk training itself was conducted on a Tu-104 aircraft, where a full-scale mock-up of the “Voskhod 2” spacecraft was installed.