If this photo from 200-plus miles above Earth dizzies you, imagine how it felt to be Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965. The Soviet cosmonaut achieved the first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA—but you and I just call it a spacewalk). He spent about 12 minutes outside the orbiting Voskhod 2 capsule. It was the ultimate risk: No one knew just what could happen to a human body in the vacuum of space. Near heatstroke, drenched with sweat, and with his suit dangerously inflating, Leonov barely made it back inside the airlock.
A stroll above the stratosphere
Today in History
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Bear cubs roughhouse on Siblings Day
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Whales in winter
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Juneteenth
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International Sloth Day
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Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica
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Happy Star Wars Day!
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Tom Turkey takes Manhattan
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A yearly sign that spring has sprung
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The Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Italy
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Barcelona bids farewell to summer
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Wahclella Falls, Oregon
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Dusky eagle-owls, Pakistan
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Lake Tyrrell, Victoria, Australia
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An ice cap-puccino
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Bird s-eye view on World Environment Day
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Atolls in the Maldives
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Fibonacci Day
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A peak in the clouds
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Let’s go mothing
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Tufa formations in Mono Lake, California
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San Blas Islands, Panama
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30 years after Exxon Valdez
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Salt of the earth
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Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy
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50 years of Earth Day
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Manarola, Cinque Terre National Park, Liguria, Italy
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A red fox on the Swiss side of the Jura Mountain range
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Fresh water on the Silk Road
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Yungang Grottoes, Shanxi, China
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Blue paradise on the Costa Brava