Leonov, history's first Spacewalker, passes, age 85.

[moon]

Alexei Leonov: First person to walk in space dies aged 85



Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who became the first person in history to spacewalk in 1965, has died aged 85.

Tethered to a spaceship by a 4.8m (16ft) cable, the Russian floated above Earth for 12 minutes.

"You just can't comprehend it. Only out there can you feel the greatness - the huge size of all that surrounds us," Leonov told the BBC in 2014.

But the outing nearly ended in disaster as his spacesuit inflated and he struggled to get back in the spaceship.

At a time when the US and the USSR were jostling for space supremacy, Leonov's mission was lauded as a triumph at home.

But Leonov's ambitions did not stop at his spacewalk. He went on to become the commander of Soyuz-Apollo, the first ever joint US-Soviet mission in 1975.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50017409

A brave among the brave. R.I.P.

N.B. Anybody defaming this remarkable man will be added to my personal perma-ban list.

[Cypress]

To paraphrase the immortal words of AC/DC, for those about to rock, we salute you Alexei!