Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

3-D Views of Humanity’s First Spacewalk, 50 Years Ago Today

On March 18, 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk in history, floating outside his Voskhod 2 capsule. Leonov made the walk when he was just 30 years old, and later wrote that he felt “like a seagull with its wings outstretched, soaring high above the Earth.” His spacewalk lasted just 12 minutes but that was long enough to prove that humans in space could work outside a spacecraft.

Author and space historian Andrew Chaikin created some unique 3-D views of Leonov’s spacewalk, made from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Above is a red-cyan anaglyph, but if you don’t have your 3-D glasses available, don’t worry: Chaikin has also created stereo pair 3-D images, which you can view by crossing your eyes (explanation below, if you need a little help).

Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. Cross-eyed 3-D stereo pair created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.
Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. Cross-eyed 3-D stereo pair created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.

Oxford University provides this explanation of how to cross your eyes to view a stereo pair as a 3-D image:

Hold a finger a short distance in front of your eyes and stare at it. In the background you should see two copies of the stereo pair, giving four views altogether. Move your finger away from you until you see the middle two of the four images come together. You should now see just three images in the background. Try to direct your attention slowly toward the middle image without moving your eyes, and it should gradually come into focus.

Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. 3-D anaglyph created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.
Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. 3-D anaglyph created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.

While the spacewalk was exhilarating, getting back into the spacecraft became dicey. Leonov’s spacesuit expanded so much in the vacuum of space that he had a hard time squeezing back into the spacecraft. He took a risk and opened a valve on the suit to let enough air escape, which allowed him to enter the airlock.

Leonov’s walk took place almost 3 months before American astronaut Ed White took his spacewalk on Gemini 4. The first European to do a spacewalk was the French spationaute Jean-Loup Chrétien, who flew to the Russian Mir space station in 1988.

Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. Cross-eyed 3-D stereo pair created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.
Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. Cross-eyed 3-D stereo pair created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.
Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. 3-D anaglyph created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.
Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. 3-D anaglyph created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.

Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. Cross-eyed 3-D stereo pair created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.
Alexei Leonov during the first ever spacewalk on March 18, 1965. Cross-eyed 3-D stereo pair created from individual frames from the movie of the walk. Credit: Andrew Chaikin.

Thanks to Andrew Chaikin for sharing these images with Universe Today.

Here is some color footage of the spacewalk:

The BBC has created a special webpage to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Leonov’s spacewalk. ESA has a gallery of images from 50 years of spacewalks.

Group photo of the first cosmonauts. Taken just after the flight of Voskhod 2 in 1965, in order of flight (from left), the first Soviet cosmonauts: Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov, Andrian Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, Valeri Bykovsky, Valentina Tereshkova, Konstantin Feoktistov, Vladimir Komarov, Boris Yegorov, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov. Alexei had just returned to Earth after performing the first spacewalk in history during the Voskhod 2 mission. Credit: alldayru.com, via ESA.
Group photo of the first cosmonauts. Taken just after the flight of Voskhod 2 in 1965, in order of flight (from left), the first Soviet cosmonauts: Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov, Andrian Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, Valeri Bykovsky, Valentina Tereshkova, Konstantin Feoktistov, Vladimir Komarov, Boris Yegorov, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov.
Alexei had just returned to Earth after performing the first spacewalk in history during the Voskhod 2 mission.
Credit: alldayru.com, via ESA.

4 Replies to “3-D Views of Humanity’s First Spacewalk, 50 Years Ago Today”

  2. Thanks Nancy! I enjoyed watching Neil’s first steps again, (yea, I’m that old) and Alexei Leonov’s first space walk. I don’t remember seeing that one as a kid.

  3. Spasibo/thank you Alexei Leonov – It’s hard to imagine those accomplishments given the technology of the day. Those first astronauts and cosmonauts certainly were brave men and women! Salute!

  4. good article, and that BBC page that you linked to was great. it really would make an interesting movie.

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