First person to spacewalk Alexei Leonov passes away

Legendary cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first person ever to spacewalk, passed away at the age of 85 in Moscow.

The memorial service and the funeral are expected to take place on October 15, at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetary in the Moscow region, TASS reported, citing Leonov's assistant.

Born on May 30, 1934, Leonov became a member of the First Soviet cosmonaut team, along with 20 other Soviet Air Force pilots, including German Titov and Yuri Gagarin.

The cosmonaut made history in 1965, when he stepped outside his spacecraft for just over 12 minutes and floated around, attached by a tether. The pioneering mission nearly ended in disaster when his suit inflated during the spacewalk and he was unable to fit back into the craft.

In 1975, he also took part in the historic Soyuz-Apollo spaceflight which put an end to the Space Race.