On October 11, 2019, the world mourned the passing of the great Russian cosmonaut Alexei Lenov, whose life exemplified the greatest expression of mankind’s aspiration to advance beyond the limits of our knowledge through science and artistic inspiration.
Making history with the first spacewalk on March 18, 1965, Lenov was scheduled to be the first Russian to land on the Moon until short sighted strategists cancelled the lunar program once America declared their mission a success. However, Lenov continued to lead the world towards his aspirations of a common brotherhood of all mankind as the leader of the Russian side of the historic Soyuz-Apollo cooperative space mission in 1975. Here, Lenov directed one of the greatest solutions to the problems of the unwinnable Cold War logic of “Mutually Assured Destruction” by re-directing the fruits of technological progress from weaponized competition to fruitful collaboration as American and Russian astronauts docked together for 2 days in orbit.
On top of his pioneering work as a scientist, and space administrator, Alexei Lenov was a renowned philosopher, writer, and artist who painted over 200 works of art depicting humanity’s exploration of space both from his own direct experience as well as from his rigorously trained imagination. He was joined on this artistic adventure by space art pioneer Andrei Sokolov who collaborated with Lenov on dozens of great paintings.
Like many astronauts, Alexei described his transformative spiritual experience of his famous space walk in the following words: “With an effort I stepped into the abyss. I felt overwhelmed. Stars were to the left and to the right. Above and below. I was surrounded by stars. Gradually I myself realized that I am part of this giant world where a human being is but a tiny grain of sand.”
Describing his understanding that mankind’s maturation to a space faring species was the cure for the infantile ills of empire and war which have plagued humanity for millennia he said: “When we, cosmonauts, astronauts, get together, we do not divide each other into “whites” and “colored ones”, Russians, Americans, and Europeans. We are all children of Earth, children of God. Without flight, it would be more difficult for us to understand this simple truth”.
In celebration of a life which sought to remove that artificial gulf separating the worlds of “science” and “art” throughout the 20th century, we are proud to showcase here a small sample of some of the great cosmonauts paintings with the hope that you enjoy with us, the beauty and imagination that he saw when looking at creation and man’s role therein.
A Gallery of Alexei Leonov’s Paintings
Emerging from Voskhod-2 
Alexei at work 
Soviet space art. Artwork titled ‘Space Drivers’ by the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (born 1934) and space artist Andrei Sokolov (born 1931). Leonov performed the first spacewalk, during the Voskhod 2 mission of 18 March 1965. This made Leonov a celebrity in the Soviet Union and around the world. His only other space flight was as commander of the historic Soyuz 19 mission that docked with a US Apollo spacecraft in July 1975. From 1976 until his retirement in 1982, he was commander of the Soviet cosmonaut team and deputy director of its training centre. He has also painted and exhibited space-inspired artworks. 
Artwork by cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov. Painting of a landing module descending towards the Moon’s surface by the Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov (b. 1934). Leonov flew on the Voskhod 2 mission with Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev, from 18-19th March 1965. During this flight, Leonov became the first person to make a space walk. Belyayev never flew into space again, but Leonov was part of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test project where Russian and American spacecraft docked in orbit. Leonov later became Air Force Major General. 
Soviet space art. Artwork titled ‘Power Plant Assembly on the Moon’ by the Soviet space artist Andrei Sokolov (born 1931). Sokolov works closely with the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (born 1934), the first man to perform a space walk. 
Leonov and Sokolov collaboration 
Soyuz and Apollo capsules docking 
My Walk in Space 
Volcanic Eruption on the Moon 
A World with Two suns 
Future Cosmonauts explore Mars
