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    1965 - Moscow
    1965 - Moscow
    International Post Office
    1965 - Moscow
    1965 - Moscow
    1965 - Minsk
    1965 - Minsk
    1965 - Kaliningrad
    1965 - Kaliningrad
    Alexey Leonov lived in Kaliningrad from 1947 till mid 50s
    1965 - Kaliningrad
    1965 - Kaliningrad
    welcome meeting
    1965 - Liepaja
    1965 - Liepaja
    1965 - Donetsk
    1965 - Donetsk
    club cover
    Sokolov and Leonov
    Sokolov and Leonov
    1975
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    issued Sep 14, 1972
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    issued Sep 14, 1972
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    issued Sep 14, 1972
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    issued Sep 14, 1972
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    issued Sep 14, 1972
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    15th Anniversary of Space Age
    issued Sep 14, 1972
    1975 - Moscow
    1975 - Moscow
    10th anniversary
    Space Voyage cachet
    1980 - Baikonur
    1980 - Baikonur
    15th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    1980 - Kemerovo
    1980 - Kemerovo
    15th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    Leonov lived in Kemerovo 1937-1947
    The souvenir sheet reproduced Leonov painting with his signature on the left
    2005 - Vologda
    2005 - Vologda
    P. Belyaev 80th anniversary
    Pavel Belyaev
    Pavel Belyaev
    80th anniversary
    Pavel Belyaev
    Pavel Belyaev
    private postcard issued in 2015 - 90th anniversary
    Pavel Belyaev
    Pavel Belyaev
    90th anniversary
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    The flight of Voskhod-2 with Pavel Belyaev and Alexey Leonov was full of near-misses. As Leonov recalled – there were 7 accidents during this flight and half of them could have led to the catastrophe. The spacewalk itself proved to be almost a booby trap, when Leonov struggled with the spacesuit to get into the ship. He suffered from abnormally high heart rate and sweating, almost experienced a heatstroke plus decompression sickness while playing with the pressure in his suit. In order to get safely to the ship, he breached several instructions.

    Due to the decompression following the overheating, additional amounts of oxygen were pushed into the cabin, worsening Leonovs condition. After creating overpressure inside the cabin, some structure elements forced to be pushed out and finally sealed the leak.

    ​

    The landing automation system went down and Belyaev initiated manual control over the ship. Due to the cabin design he could not manage it while seating in his chair, but had to unbuckle and do everything while floating weightless. Finally after additional unplanned revolution he set the direction and initiated deorbiting. Due to the delay of Belyaev getting to the chair and buckle, the ship missed landing point by 165 kilometers, touching down in a remote location near Perm. Rescue airplane spotted the landing zone and guided a couple of local scouts who built a small log tent. Next day the helicopters provided supplies and additional rescues coupled with the team to be extracted after a second night in the woods.

    ​

    In 1968 Leonov was a member of a second crew for Zond-7 flight around the Moon, but the manned flight was cancelled, although the cosmonauts wrote a letter to the leaders of USSR about their readiness for sacrifice to get first to the Moon.

    ​

    In late 60s Leonov teamed with fantasy artist Andrey Sokolov and created a series of paintings that were published in space related albums and reproduced on stamps. The first one issued in 1967 – “Stars, wait for us!” The most famous and widely known stamp series is 6 stamps of “15 Years of Space Age” that were also issued in mini-sheets.  The stamps issued in 1972 used a combination of real-life and fantasy paintings.

    ​

    Pavel Belyaev died from peritonitis on Jan 10, 1970. Although serving in a Cosmonaut Team he was never appointed to any flight crew.

    ​

    In 1971 Leonov was a commander of ill-fated Soyuz-11, but two days before the start the crews were switched due to Valery Kubasov sickness. The backup crew of Volkov, Dobrovosly and Patsaev was launched and died during the landing accident.

    ​

    In 1975 Leonov commanded Soyuz-19 docking with Apollo, which became widely publicized milestone of USSR-USA space cooperation both technically and politically.  

    ​

    In 2015 a stamp was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of spacewalk, issued in 495,000 pieces (33,000 sheets), special postmarks were prepared for Moscow, Kaluga and Vologda (birthplace of Pavel Belyaev). Official card was issued in 15,000 pieces. Baikonur branch of Russian Post – BaikonurSvyazInform prepared two types of special cancellations on dedicated cards. Several private designs should also be mentioned.

    VOSKHOD-2

    2015
    2015
    50th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    2015 - Moscow
    2015 - Moscow
    FDC
    2015 - Vologda
    2015 - Vologda
    1992 ISY club postcard
    2015 - Vologda
    2015 - Vologda
    50th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    2015 - Vologda
    2015 - Vologda
    50th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    2015 - Star City
    2015 - Star City
    50th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    2015 - Moscow
    2015 - Moscow
    50th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    2015 - Moscow
    2015 - Moscow
    2015 - Kaluga
    2015 - Kaluga
    only 300 official cards were cancelled in Kaluga
    2015 - Baikonur
    2015 - Baikonur
    50th anniversary of Voskhod-2 spaceflight
    2015 - Baikonur
    2015 - Baikonur
    50th anniversary of Voskhod-2 spaceflight
    2015 - Baikonur
    2015 - Baikonur
    50th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    2015 - Baikonur
    2015 - Baikonur
    50th anniversary of Leonov spacewalk
    2015 - Perm
    2015 - Perm
    50th anniversary of Voskhod-2 spaceflight
    Usolye, Perm region - landing site of Voskhod-2
    2015 - Perm
    2015 - Perm
    50th anniversary of Voskhod-2 spaceflight
    Usolye, Perm region - landing site of Voskhod-2
    2015 - Saint Petersburg
    2015 - Saint Petersburg
    Space Fleet series cover of G&G publishing house dedicated to 50th anniversary of first spacewalk
    The cover shows M/V Nevel, that actually had no connection to Voskhod-2 flight, as it was commissioned in 1967.
    2015
    2015
    50th anniversary of first spacewalk
    private design
    2015
    2015
    50th anniversary of first spacewalk
    private design
    2017
    2017
    "Time of Firsts" movie cachet
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