Former Russian cosmonaut Alexeï Leonov, currently in Belgium to inaugurate an exhibition about him at Brussels Russian Cultural Centre, visited the Euro Space Centre in Transinne this Thursday, to look around and to speak to schoolchildren currently on work placement there. Now 80 years old, Alexeï Leonov is considered by many to be a space legend. As one of the players in the space race resulting from the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, he is the first man to have walked in space outside a spacecraft. This epic achievement took place during the Voskhod 2 mission on March 18th, 1965. This earned him the nickname "the first spacewalker."
He was also selected to participate in the Soviet lunar program that ultimately never saw the light of day. He embarked on his second trip into space in 1975 as part of the Apollo-Soyuz programme, aimed to be a rapprochement between the two rival countries.
During his visit, Alexeï Leonov talked about his wish to see space programmes developed. "I am happy to see that there is now an international space station which is run conjointly by several countries. We work best when we work together," he said on Thursday.
Alexeï Leonov is to stop off in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, before going back to Russia.
(Source: Belga)
