R.I.P Alexei Leonov, first human to perform a spacewalk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Leonov

In 1936, his father Arkhip was arrested and declared an "enemy of the people". Leonov wrote in his autobiography: "He was not alone: many were being arrested. It was part of a conscientious drive by the authorities to eradicate anyone who showed too much independence or strength of character. These were the years of Stalin's purges. Many disappeared into remote gulags and were never seen again."

"At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed."

"Leonov was an accomplished artist whose published books include albums of his artistic works and works he did in collaboration with his friend Andrei Sokolov. Leonov took coloured pencils and paper into space, where he sketched the Earth and drew portraits of the Apollo astronauts who flew with him during the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project. "

R.I.P. to Laika as well, the first dog shot into outer space.

And a moment of silence for the late Albert II:

..."The first mammal in space was Albert II, a Rhesus monkey. Albert I's mission had been unsuccessful, but the second Albert reached a distance of 83 miles on June 14, 1949 (in a V-2 rocket). Albert was anesthetized during flight and implanted with sensors to measure his vital signs. Unfortunately, Albert II died upon impact at re-entry.”

https://www.space.com/17764-laika-fi...-in-space.html