Alexei Leonov, first person to walk in space dies at 85

Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space 54 years ago, has died in Moscow aged 85.

Russian space agency Roscosmos confirmed his death in a statement on its website, but gave no further details.

The legendary Soviet cosmonaut staked his place in space history on March 18, 1965, when he exited his Voskhod 2 capsule secured by a tether.

On his second trip to space ten years later, Leonov commanded the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz 19 mission. It was the first joint space mission between the Soviet Union and the United States, carried out at the height of the Cold War.

The cosmonaut turned 85 in May.

Several days before that, two Russian crewmembers on the International Space Station ventured into open space on a planned spacewalk with stickers attached on their spacesuits paying tribute to him, and congratulated him from space. 

Roscosmos said Leonov would be buried Tuesday at a military