Alexei Leonov, the first person ever to spacewalk, has died.
Leonov passed away at 85 after a long illness and will be buried this month, Russian news agency TASS reported, citing his assistant.
The cosmonaut made history in 1965, when he stepped outside his spacecraft for just over 12 minutes and floated around, attached by a tether. The pioneering mission nearly ended in disaster when his suit inflated during the spacewalk and he was unable to fit back into the craft.
After the spacewalk was over, Leonov reflected on the beauty of looking down to see the world while floating above it.
“You just can’t comprehend it,” he said. “Only out there can you feel the greatness – the huge size of all that surrounds us.”
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The eye of Hurricane Dorian as captured by Nasa astronaut Nick Hague from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 September
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The River Nile and its delta captured at night from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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The galaxy Messier 81, located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major, as seen by Nasa’s Spitzer Space Telescope
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The flight path Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Danielson Crater, an impact crater in the Arabia region of Mars, as captured by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
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A team rehearses landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Bound for the International Space Station, the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Hurricane Dorian as seen from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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A string of tropical cyclones streams across Earth’s northern hemisphere in this picture taken from the ISS on 4 September
Nasa
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The city of New York as seen from the ISS on 11 September
Nasa
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The eye of Hurricane Dorian as captured by Nasa astronaut Nick Hague from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 September
Nasa/EPA
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The River Nile and its delta captured at night from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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The galaxy Messier 81, located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major, as seen by Nasa’s Spitzer Space Telescope
Nasa/JPL-Caltech
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The flight path Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Danielson Crater, an impact crater in the Arabia region of Mars, as captured by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
Nasa/JPL-Caltech
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A team rehearses landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Bound for the International Space Station, the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Hurricane Dorian as seen from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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A string of tropical cyclones streams across Earth’s northern hemisphere in this picture taken from the ISS on 4 September
Nasa
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The city of New York as seen from the ISS on 11 September
Nasa
Leonov would go on to lead the Soviet part of the Soyuz-Apollo mission, which 10 years later became the first joint space mission with the US.
He had also been selected as the first Soviet person to land on the Moon, before that mission was cancelled.
After his space career with the Soviet programme, Leonov moved into private business as well as serving in a number of political positions.
Leonov was also an accomplished author, writing a number of scientific works and biographical books. He was also a painter, creating hundreds of paintings, some of which were used on postage stamps in the USSR.
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