#apollo-soyuz

[cosmonautroger]

Apollo-Soyuz, 1975

[bignaz8]

R.I.P Thomas P Stafford - who passed away today aged 93. Stafford flew to space 4 times on Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, orbited the Moon on Apollo 10 and was the US commander on the historic Apollo Soyuz Test Project

[humanoidhistory]

The Apollo-Soyuz mission pictured in space art by Andrei Sokolov on the cover of Japan's S-F Magazine (S-Fマガジン), March 1976.

[todaysdocument]

Letter from President Gerald Ford to Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, Regarding the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Collection GRF-0056: White House Central Files Subject Files (Ford Administration)Series: White House Central Files Subject Files on MessagesFile Unit: ME 1/CO 158: Messages Furnished to Adults/Soviet Union

B. Bj.

[stamp]

C.F.

[handwritten]

MEI/CO158

[letterhead]

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

September 17, 1975

Dear Mr. General Secretary:

I have asked General Stafford, Colonel Slaton and Mr. Brand to convey my personal greetings to you on this auspicious occasion.

The members of the Apollo-Soyuz crew have traveled together above our planet for thousands of miles. Their present exchange of visits is a fitting way to celebrate the successful conclusion of our remarkable joint enterprise in space. The courageous men shook hands and worked together as they orbited our earth. Now, traveling together in the Soviet Union and soon in the United States, they demonstrate in very human terms the fruits of our cooperation.

I am confident you will agree that we should not rest content with these important achievements, but should continue working together to widen man's horizons and knowledge in space and to ensure peace and better understanding among nations on earth.

Once again, my greetings and sincere best wishes for the continued development of mutually beneficial cooperation and good relations between our two countries.

Sincerely,

[signed] Gerald R. Ford [/signed]

His Excellency

Leonid I. Brezhnev

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Kremlin

Moscow

[ashes2caches]

this is what transgender sex looks like

[thererisesaredstar]

Mission Operations Control Room during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (July 17, 1975)

[thinkmanythingsofit]

50 years anniversary of Soyus-Apollo mission in the bottom right screen of the Russian mission control room during the launch of the Progress 92 Cargo Ship to the ISS (via Nasa+ live stream).

[gemini-enthusiast]

On this day in space program history, on July 15th, 1975, the Apollo-Soyuz test project launched from KSC Launch Complex 39B...

And from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

This mission was a major landmark in space history by being the first meeting of an international crew in space. American astronauts Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton, and Vance Brand docked their Apollo capsule to the Soviet Soyuz capsule carrying cosmonauts Alexei Leonov (who had been the first person to walk in space a decade prior) and Valery Kubasov. The ASTP was also the last usage of an Apollo capsule, and the last American space flight before the completion of the Space Shuttle.

The two spacecraft docked on July 17th, and the commanders of each craft, Tom Stafford and Alexei Leonov, shook hands to mark the occasion.

Together, the joint crews participated in a number of scientific experiments, including using the Apollo capsule to block the sun and create a man-made eclipse, allowing the Soviet capsule to study and photograph the sun's corona.

The ASTP is now one of the lesser-known parts of the Apollo program, but was a hugely important landmark in space history, and paved the way for future international relations in space. Without ASTP, we would not have the Shuttle-Mir program nor the International Space Station. It marked the end of the Apollo program on a high note.

Well, except for the fact the Apollo crew got poisoned by rocket fuel on reentry and nearly died, but that's neither here nor there.