MOSCOW, July 17. / TASS /. The monument to cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who was the first in the world to go into outer space, opened on Saturday at the Federal War Memorial Cemetery in Mytishchi. This was announced by the cosmonaut of Roscosmos Ivan Wagner.
“Today, at the Federal War Memorial Cemetery in Mytishchi, a memorial to Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov (sculptor Yaroslav Borodin) was opened,” Wagner wrote on his Twitter page.
The cosmonaut recalled that the opening of the monument was timed to coincide with the 46th anniversary of the docking of the Soviet Soyuz-19 spacecraft and the American Apollo.
The composition of the monument includes a full-length sculpture of Leonov, a globe, a palette with tassels. “The picture of the cosmic abyss struck me with its grandeur, immensity, sharpness of contrasts. Black sky and unblinking stars. Space is beautiful, but for an artist it is monotonous, much better earthly landscapes illuminated by the sun,” Leonov's words are written on the monument.
Alexey Leonov died in Moscow on October 11, 2019 at the age of 85. He made two space flights. The first one took place on March 18-19, 1965, on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. Then the Soviet cosmonaut was the first in the world to go into outer space. During the second flight, which took place on July 15-21, 1975, the first ever docking of spacecraft from different countries took place – the Soviet Soyuz-19, commanded by Leonov, and the American Apollo.
