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Duration: 1.08 days
The 3KD variant of the Vostok spacecraft was to have been called "Vykhod" to distinguish it from the 3KV, which was called "Voskhod;" instead, the "Vykhod" name was dropped and both variants were called "Voskhod." During Voskhod 2's second orbit, Leonov stepped from the vehicle and performed mankind's first extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "walk in space." The mission almost ended in disaster when Leonov was unable to reenter the inflatable airlock due to stiffness of the inflated spacesuit. He had to bleed air from the suit in order to get into the airlock. After Leonov finally managed to get back into the spacecraft cabin, the primary hatch would not seal completely. The environmental control system compensated by flooding the cabin with oxygen, creating a serious fire hazard in a craft only qualified for sea level nitrogen-oxygen gas mixes (Cosmonaut Bondarenko had burned to death in a ground accident in such circumstances, preceding the Apollo 204 disaster by many years). References:
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