March 18, 1965: The 1st Spacewalk

March 18, 1965: Alexei Leonov, connected by a 16-foot tether, leaves the Voskhod 2 capsule in orbit above Earth. Lasting 12 minutes and 9 seconds, it is the first "spacewalk."

The Soviet Union had most of the major spaceflight milestones, until the 1st manned Moon landing. Leonov's spacewalk beat the 1st American one, by 77 days: Ed White spent 36 minutes outside Gemini 4 on June 3, 1965.

Leonov, a 31-year-old native of Listvyanka, in Siberia, was awarded his country's highest honor, the medal named "Hero of the Soviet Union." When the Zond program began, with the idea of putting a Soviet man on the Moon, Leonov was chosen to be the 1st.

But technical issues led to delays, and the U.S. landed 2 missions on the Moon before the first unmanned Zond mission was launched in 1970. The Soviets never did have a manned launch, and they gave up on having one.

Leonov later went out of his way to expose conspiracy theorists who said the American Moon landing was faked, by pointing out that the Soviets were following the Apollo 11 mission with their satellites, and cheered when Neil Armstrong did the 1st Moonwalk. Yes, it was a victory for America. But it was also a victory for all of humanity.

Leonov did get a 2nd chance to be a hero, commanding the Soviet side of the Apollo/Soyuz mission in 1975, the 1st joint U.S.-Russian space effort. That gained him a 2nd Hero of the Soviet Union medal. He rose to the rank of Major General in the Soviet Air Force, and lived until 2019, age 85.

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March 18, 1965 was a Thursday. This was also the day that the Detroit Red Wings got 10 goals from 10 different players, and the banana truck crash that inspired Harry Chapin's song "Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas" occurred. I have separate entries for those events.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Cincinnati Royals beat the Baltimore Bullets, 113-110 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

There were 2 games in the NHL:

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 10-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Wings got goals from a record 10 different players. I have a separate entry for that event.

* The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.

January 27, 1967: The Apollo 1 Fire

Left to right: Ed White, Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee

January 27, 1967: America experiences its 1st space program tragedy.

Astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, one of the original "Mercury 7"; Edward H. White II, the 1st American to make a spacewalk; and Roger B. Chaffee, a Navy pilot and engineer who was preparing for his 1st spaceflight, were undergoing a rehearsal for the launch of Apollo 1, meant to launch on February 21. An electrical fire spread through the capsule, killing them.

Grissom was 40 years old, White 36, Chaffee 31.

The tragedy set the U.S. space program back. The 1st manned Apollo flight, Apollo 7, wouldn't get off the ground until October 11, 1968 -- almost 2 years later, and putting President John F. Kennedy's end-of-decade (December 31, 1969) goal in serious jeopardy.

Apollo 8 broke Earth orbit, and orbited the Moon on December 21, 1968. Apollo 9 demonstrated the use of the lunar module on March 7, 1969. Apollo 10 was the "dress rehearsal," as the lunar module got to within 50,000 feet of the Moon's surface on May 22, 1969.

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Neil Armstrong took his walk, and then Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin took his.

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January 27, 1967 was a Friday. Baseball and football were out of season. And no NHL games were scheduled. But there were 3 games played in the NBA that night:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 112-106 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 110-107 at the Philadelphia Civic Center. This game featured possibly the two greatest players in the sport's history. For the Royals, Oscar Robertson had 39 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. But, for the Sixers, Wilt Chamberlain had 17 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. Hal Greer scored 25 for the Sixers.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the Baltimore Bullets, 143-116 at the Cow Palace in the San Francisco suburb of Daly City, California. Rick Barry scored 39 for the Warriors.