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First Spacewalk: A Historical Achievement That Nearly Ended In Tragedy

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More than 50 years ago the first spacewalk nearly ended in tragedy, the story behind the historical moment which changed the way we look at space is fascinating and here we have the details.

During the so-called space-race between the USSR and the United States, the competition was fierce and both the USSR and the United States wanted to be the first to make it to the moon, to space in general…
In order to conquer space, many steps were required but above all, courage was needed, a courage that would give those chosen once, the space adventure of their life time.
Alexey Leonov
On March 18, 1965, Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov had an adventure of a lifetime as he stepped outside the Voskhod-2 spaceship to float in space: the first spacewalk in human history which opened many doors for future space exploration.
With this great achievement, Leonov became the first human to ever ‘walk’ in space, observing planet Earth from a distance of 500 kilometers.
The truth about this historical moment is fascinating and could have very well ended in a tragedy that could have changed the way we look at space exploration forever. In 1965, Leonov was celebrated by the USSR as a hero, the Cosmonaut who gave them a strategic advantage over their competitor, the United States.
On that historic day, Leonov stepped out of the spaceship attached by a 5.35 meter-long cable, remaining in space for a period of over ten minutes. When everything seemed alright, luck proved how unpredictable it was.
Leonov had a very simple mission while in space: Attach a camera to the airlock, film his spacewalk with a camera mounted on the front of the spacesuit and… survive. Leonov managed almost all three objectives expect the second one.
It was impossible for Leonov to document his spacewalk since his spacesuit inflated like a balloon which prevented him from reaching the shutter-switch located on his thigh.
The first human spacewalk was an extraordinary and dangerous attempt. Until then, no one knew what it was like, what to expect and how things would turn out. According to medical reports, Leonov’s core body temperature rose 1.8 degrees Celsius in just 20 minutes, nearly causing a heat stroke. Leonov floated inside his space suit.
The BBC reports Leonov’s recollections of the critical moment:
“My suit was becoming deformed. My hands had slipped out of the gloves [and] my feet came out of the boots. The suit felt loose around my body. I had to do something. I couldn’t pull myself back using the cord. And what’s more, with this misshapen suit, it would be impossible to fit through the airlock.”
As Leonov’s spacesuit bloated and stiffened in the vacuum, it was too large to fit through the airlock. Leonov opened an oxygen valve slowly, depressurizing his suit until it became small enough to allow him to squeeze into the spacecraft. The problems however, did not end once he was inside the spacecraft.
Once the inflatable airlock was ejected it sent the spacecraft into an extremely dangerous spin, to add to the misery of the situations, a malfunction within the spacecraft sent oxygen levels up, a very risky situation for the cosmonauts. A single spark could have caused an explosion destroying the entire spacecraft.
In an interview with RT, former cosmonaut Alexey Leonov reflects on the dangers during the first human spacewalk:
“I keep going over the mission and I keep finding mistakes that could have been avoided. They could have led to tragedy, everything was on the edge. We were thrown to an altitude of 495 kilometers by an error, it [was]…200 kilometers higher than planned. And it so happened that we were flying some 5 kilometers below the radiation layer.”
“The sheer size of the Earth, space. We don’t understand it on the ground. Only there you can comprehend space. While from inside the spacecraft cosmonauts could see only a small fraction of the scenery, outside “the stars and the sun are everywhere… I did not expect all this.
The silence struck me. I could hear my heart beating so clearly. I could hear my breath – it even hurt to think. The heavy breaths were looped via microphones and broadcast to Earth.”
Leonov died on 11 October 2019 after a long illness in Moscow. His funeral took place on 15 October. He was 85[31] and the last living member of the five cosmonauts in the Voskhod programme.
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Space

Alien space debris stuck in Earth’s orbit, researchers say

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Recently, a group of experts from Harvard University, led by physics
professor Avi Loeb, announced the possible presence of alien space
debris in Earth’s orbit, reports the Daily Star.

Leading
space research expert Professor Loeb is confident that the discovery of
such “interstellar objects could help expand our knowledge of possible
alien civilizations and technologies. A team of scientists is conducting
research to confirm that some of the objects in our orbit may be
connected to other star systems.

During an interview with Live
Science, Professor Loeb explained that these objects could enter the
solar system from interstellar space, defying Jupiter’s gravitational
pull and occupying limited orbits around the sun.

Some of them may
have technological origins similar to the probes sent by mankind into
interstellar space, such as Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, Pioneer 10 and 11
and New Horizons.

However,
despite these interesting assumptions, Professor Loeb did not specify
what specific objects he was talking about. In his research report, he
notes that there could be “a significant number” of potentially
detectable objects in Earth’s orbit.

To confirm their assumptions,
the team of scientists uses computer simulations and the Vera Rubin
Observatory (Chile) with a high-resolution camera of 3.2 billion pixels.
This will allow for regular observations of the Southern sky and the
possibility of detecting several captured objects about the size of a
football field.

It is assumed that these interstellar objects passed through the
boundaries of the solar system and may carry unique information about
other civilizations and their technologies. If we could confirm the
origin of these objects, the mysteries that open before us, this would
be a real breakthrough in space exploration.

Professor Loeb
expresses hope that the new research will not only help expand our
knowledge of extraterrestrial technologies, but may also lead to the
discovery of new alien civilizations . Answers to such questions can be
of global significance and influence our understanding of the place of
mankind in the Universe.

And
while there are still many questions and assumptions, the study by
Professor Loeb and his team opens a new chapter in space exploration.
Each new discovery can be the key to deciphering the mysteries of the
cosmos and the possibility of encountering alien life forms.

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Space

Betelgeuse is acting strange again

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Betelgeuse, a red giant on the brink of death, continues to show
unusual behavior. After the Great Blackout, which occurred in late 2019
and early 2020, the star became unusually bright. It is now the seventh
brightest star in the sky, while it normally ranks tenth. This has led
to speculation that Betelgeuse is preparing to explode in a
spectacularly large supernova.

However, scientists believe it’s too early to tell, and it’s likely
that this behavior is due to ongoing fluctuations after the Great
Blackout of 2019, and the star will return to normal within a decade.

Betelgeuse is one of the most interesting stars in the sky. It is
about 700 light-years from Earth and is a red giant in the last stage of
its life. It is also an unusual star for a red giant because it was
previously a monster blue-white O-type star, the most massive class of
stars.

Betelgeuse has changed its spectral type because it has almost
exhausted its hydrogen reserves. It now burns helium into carbon and
oxygen and has expanded to a gigantic size: about 764 times the size of
the Sun and about 16.5 to 19 times its mass.

Eventually it will run out of fuel to burn, become a supernova, eject
its outer material, and its core will collapse into a neutron star.

Before the Great Blackout, Betelgeuse also had periodic fluctuations
in brightness. The longest of these cycles is about 5.9 years and the
other is 400 days. But it seems that the Great Blackout caused changes
in these oscillations.

A new paper by astrophysicist Morgan McLeod of the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has shown that the 400-day
cycle appears to have been halved. This pulsational cycle is probably
caused by expansion and contraction within the star. According to
simulations carried out by MacLeod and his colleagues, the convective
flow inside Betelgeuse may have risen and become material that separates
from the star.

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