Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov is a retired Soviet/Russian cosmonaut and Air Force Major General who, on 18 March 1965, became the first human to conduct a space walk.
Leonov was one of the twenty Soviet Air Force pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut group in 1960. As all the Soviet cosmonauts Leonov was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Leonov was to have commanded the next mission to Salyut 1, but this was scrapped after the deaths of the Soyuz 11 crew members, and the space station was lost.
From 1976 to 1982, Leonov was the commander of the cosmonaut team and deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, where he oversaw crew training. He also edited the cosmonaut newsletter Neptune. He retired in 1991.
In 2001, he was a vice president of Moscow-based Alfa Bank and an advisor to the first deputy of the Board.
