Sixty years ago today, on March 18, 1965 (February 16, 1965, the lunar calendar), Soviet astronauts drifted outside the spacecraft. Leonov and Beryaev (left) in the Ascension 2 before the spacewalk On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Yesy-A-Leonov became the first person to float in space after a spacecraft out of orbit. When the two-person spacecraft Ascension 2 flew over the Soviet Union, Leonov opened the window and stayed in space for 10 minutes. He tied it to the spacecraft with a 5-yard rope and put on a specially designed spacesuit to avoid being affected by the sun's strong heat. Television viewers in the Soviet Union and Europe saw Leonov emerging from the cockpit and turning over a muscle in space.