Aleksei Leonov

A. Leonov (http://usa.agentura.ru/partners/mwade/astros/leonov.htm)

I think pilots and cosmonauts are heroes. They are brave, courageous, quick-witted. They can find a way out of difficult unusual situations. My hero is cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov.

He was the first man to leave his spaceship and to spend 12 minutes in the open space! He had some problems with his spacesuit but he got over the difficulties and could return to his spacecraft.

Leonov's painting, Near the Moon (1967) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksei_Leonov)

But Aleksei Leonov is not only a cosmonaut, he is also an artist. There are many albums of his artistic works and works he did together with his friend Andrei Sokolov.

Aleksei Leonov (right) with astronaut Donald K.

Leonov took colored pencils and paper into space, where he drew the Earth and portraits of the Apollo astronauts who flew with him during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

I like to look at his pictures and to dream about spaceflights to other planets, to other galaxies.