The first man to walk in space was, ten years later, the first to shake an American's hand in orbit.
Alexei Leonov stepped out of Voskhod 2 in 1965 and in 1975 greeted Thomas Stafford through the Soyuz hatch.
The events
- Leonov's first spacewalk1965 · landing near Perm. On 18 March 1965 Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk, lasting 12 minutes. His suit ballooned and he got back into the airlock only by bleeding its pressure below safe limits. The capsule landed off target in taiga near Perm, and the crew spent two freezing nights there with a pistol against wolves and bears.
- Apollo–Soyuz: a handshake in orbit1975 · Baikonur — Cape Canaveral — orbit. On 17 July 1975 Soyuz and Apollo docked and Leonov shook hands with Stafford. NASA had expected the handshake over the English resort of Bognor Regis; a delay put it over Metz in France. Teasing Stafford's drawl, Leonov said three languages were spoken: Russian, English and 'Oklahomski'.
More amazing facts
- 1963 Valentina Tereshkova is the only woman ever to fly in space alone.
- 1964 The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were the first broadcast overseas without flying tapes across.
- 1964 · 1978 The echo of the Big Bang was first blamed on pigeon droppings.
- 1966 · 1973 · 2008 The architect of the Sydney Opera House never saw it finished.
- 1966 · 1970 · 1983 The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen twice.
- 1966 · 1967 One of the first computer-versus-computer chess matches was won by a program from Moscow.