MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s space agency says Alexei Leonov, the first human to walk in space 54 years ago, has died in Moscow. He was 85.
Roscosmos says in a statement on its website that Leonov died on Friday. It did not provide details.
Leonov performed his spacewalk on March 18, 1965, when he exited his Voskhod 2 capsule, secured by a tether.
On his second trip to space ten years later, Leonov commanded the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz 19 mission. It was the first joint space mission between the Soviet Union and the United States, carried out at the height of the Cold War.
The cosmonaut turned 85 in May. Several days before that, two Russian crewmembers on the International Space Station ventured into open space on a planned spacewalk with stickers attached on their spacesuits paying tribute to him, and congratulated him from space.
Roscosmos said Leonov would be buried Tuesday at a military memorial cemetery outside Moscow.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LATEST STORIES:
- Tampa Bay misses out on first WrestleMania due to coronavirus
- US Coast Guard rescues 4 people from overturned boat near Sarasota
- Pro Football Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell dies at 84
- Coronavirus response: Feeding Tampa Bay partners with celebrity chef for weekly Facebook series
- Search to continue for Kennedy Townsend’s daughter, grandson
