JHI Director, Professor Derek Ward-Thompson was invited to the Science Museum in London to meet Russian Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man in history to execute a successful space walk.
(Pictured: Professor Alexei Leonov talking about his historic first space walk at the Science Museum in London.)
JHI Director, Professor Derek Ward-Thompson was invited to the Science Museum in London to meet Russian Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man in history to execute a successful space walk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA). Professor Leonov was opening a new exhibition at the Science Museum on the history of Russian space flight, and Professor Ward-Thompson was an invited guest at the launch event.
Professor Leonov gave a fascinating talk about the hazards of 1960s space flight, and recounted the problems he had to overcome in order to complete his mission successfully. The air lock for his space capsule was no more than an inflatable tube, and it was necessary for him to perform a small somersault inside the tube in order to close the hatch behind him.
The audience, which included Professor Stephen Hawking and Brian May (formerly of the rock band Queen), were transfixed by the accounts of bravery as told by Professor Leonov. All Russian space craft return to Earth over land (unlike the Apollo missions which ‘splashed down’ in the sea), and some of the stories involved descriptions of occasionally rather ‘bumpy’ landings.
The cosmonaut exhibition at the Science Museum runs until the end of september.