The first-ever spacewalk was performed on this mission, which was beset with difficulties. Alexei Leonov began the spacewalk an hour and a half after launch. The 12-minute event nearly ended in disaster when Leonov's suit swelled and became rigid, preventing him from being able to get back into the capsule's inflatable airlock. He had to depressurize his suit below safety levels to get it bendable enough to get back inside. Once in, he had trouble closing and sealing the hatch. The suits the crew wore were so bulky they couldn't maneuver quickly enough while preparing to come home; they started the deorbit burn 46 seconds late. A failure of the crew module to separate from the service module combined with the late deorbit caused the mission to land 386 km from its planned site. The crew could not be located immediately and mission control was uncertain if they were alive or dead. They were eventually found in a heavily wooded area surrounded by impassable snow. Clothes and supplies were airdropped so they could survive the night in -5°C temperatures before rescue crews arrived the next day. This was largely seen as the final flight in which the Soviet Union led the Space Race.