posted 10-12-2019 06:29 AM               

A great man, whom I met at the Cité de l'Espace in Toulouse (thank you Serge) on October 5, 2007, and who had given me his autograph on an original booklet of the Apollo/Soyuz flight.

posted 10-15-2019 04:50 PM               

Today [Oct. 15, 2019], a farewell ceremony was held at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery of the Ministry of Defense, located in Mytishchi, Moscow Region, twice with the Hero of the Soviet Union, the 11th cosmonaut of our country Alexei Leonov, who died on October 11, 2019 after a long serious illness.

His relatives, friends, relatives, colleagues and just his sincere admirers came to take Aleksey Arkhipovich to the last journey. The mourning hall could not even accommodate everyone who wanted to say goodbye to the legendary man.

"He left a good mark on our Earth," Valentina Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut, noted in her farewell speech. - Alexey Arkhipovich trained many specialists in the field of space, really worried about us all. He was a kind, sympathetic person, a reliable friend, comrade. And today it's hard to accept that he left us."

The memorial ceremony was also attended by NASA astronaut Thomas Stafford, a member of the Soyuz-Apollo mission; Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov; the last participant in the first cosmonaut squad Boris Volynov; the first female astronaut to enter outer space, Svetlana Savitskaya.

"I think there are many who Alexei Arkhipovich escorted into space flight," said Svetlana Evgenievna. He also accompanied our crew on the first flight. Alexey Arkhipovich was a man who knew how to overcome obstacles. During his historic, first-ever, spacewalk, he met unforeseen difficulties, but was able to overcome them, and thereby opened the way for us all to work in outer space. True professional. His second flight, Soyuz Apollo, is also a breakthrough, the beginning of international cooperation, which we now see on the ISS."

Svetlana Savitskaya added that Alexei Leonov was among those who created the international Association of Space Explorers: "The legacy that he left to us will always be in demand by those involved in manned space exploration."

The ceremony was also attended by Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu, his deputies Nikolai Pankov and Dmitry Bulgakov; VKS commander Sergei Surovikin; daughter of chief designer S.P. Koroleva Natalya Sergeevna; the cosmonaut corps of Roscosmos, led by the squad leader Oleg Kononenko, veteran cosmonauts and CPC employees. Roscosmos and the entire rocket and space industry expressed their condolences to the family, relatives and friends on behalf of the State Corporation (GK) Roscosmos and the entire rocket and space industry.

At the memorial, the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yuri Gagarin also spoke. Gagarina Pavel Vlasov: "Dear Svetlana Pavlovna, Oksana Alekseevna, relatives and friends of Aleksei Arkhipovich. There is no greater loss than yours. People who revere Aleksei Leonov here gathered to support you and treat him with infinite respect for his personal contribution to the manned space program. We say goodbye to a man whose great deeds in orbit will never be forgotten, because this was done for the first time and forever. And also the greatness of his feat — in life itself, permeated with concern for the CPC, about people who follow its path. This civil feat is as valuable as its space flights."

Pavel Nikolayevich told how touching Aleksey Arkhipovich was to the current astronauts: "I remember the bitterness with which he said: 'Pasha, this is the first time I have escorted the crew to the cosmodrome.' It was two years ago, he was already seriously ill. And today, the guys in the squad are watching videos where Alexei Leonov says such important and necessary words before the start. This warm friendly support will forever remain with those who were lucky enough to be personally acquainted with Alexei Arkhipovich. He bequeathed to us his world - a world of honor and clarity, nobility and decency, friendship and fraternity."

The funeral of the first man who went into outer space, was held with special honors. The mourning procession was led by an honorary escort, which carried the national flag of Russia, a portrait of an astronaut, awards and wreaths. Before lowering the coffin into the ground, the servicemen lowered their flags over the grave, and a triple gun salute sounded.

posted 10-20-2019 10:34 AM               

Gagarin (died 1968); G. Titov (d. 2000); Nikolayev (d. 2004); Popovich (d 2009.); Bykovsky (d. 2019); Komarov (d. 1967); Feoktistov (d. 2009); Yegorov (d. 1994); Belyayev (d. 1970); and Leonov (d. 2019).