February 2, 1969
10:40 AM UTC

A shape came down the ladder. It was faint at first, but now it was clear. A cosmonaut's suit, slowly coming down the ladder. Alexei Leonov planted his foot on the lunar surface, and took a brief look around at his surroundings, a smile as wide as a, I don't know, I'm not a writer. It was wide, though. He uttered the first words of a man on the surface of the Moon.

"I take this step for my country, for my people, and for the Marxist-Leninist way of life. I know that this is only one small step on a journey that I know someday will take us all to the stars."