"The Spacewalker", March 18th 1965, Pin commemorating the first ever 'Space walk', USSR / CCCP, 1965

Details

Pin to commemorate the first space walk
Metal, made in the Soviet Union, 1960s

About this date

Yes, after watching the movie "The Spacewalker", Google might have brought you to this page... This stuff really happened.

On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to leave a space capsule and perform a spacewalk while free-floating in orbit. He was the pilot of the Voskhod 2 mission.

The space-walk on March 18, 1965 was not all smooth sailing. Despite spending more than 12 minutes outside the Voskhod 2, when he was no longer bound by the spacecraft's interior atmosphere, his spacesuit grew bigger in size and he was unable to re-enter the airlock. Leonov deflated the suit beyond its safe limits to make it more flexible while he suffered from decompression bending. He later found out he'd been sweating so profusely that the sweat was dangling around his suit. Not all seemed to go well on the reentry flight, either.

The United States did catch up a few months later, but March 18 1965 is in the history books as the day Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov did something quite remarkable.

Check out original footage of Aleksei Leonov on the first ever space walk (YouTube link opens in new window).

Tags: pin, lapel pin, znachki, badge, collectible, enamel