On July 17, 1975, for the first time in the history of mankind, space vehicles belonging to different nations - the Soviet and the American space vehicles Soyuz-19 and Apollo - have performed rendezvous and docking to deploy into an integrated orbital complex.

Envoys from the Soviet Union and the United States of America, A.A. Leonov, V.N. Kubasov, T. Stafford, V. Brandt, and D. Slaton, transferred from one vehicle to the other and shook their hands to symbolize cooperation of different nations both in space and on the Earth.

History of Soyuz-Apollo Test Project (ASTP)

President of the USSR Academy of Sciences (AS), Academician M.V. Keldysh and Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Doctor Pain initiated the mission feasibility discussions.

Project Milestones

Moscow, October 1970. The first meeting of the USSR and the US experts. The US delegation was headed by R. Gilroot, Director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the Soviet delegation - by Academician B.N. Petrov, the Chairman of the Board of International Cooperation in Space Exploration, "INTERCOSMOS", at the USSR AS. Working Groups were organized to negotiate technical requirements for the compatibility of the Soviet and the American vehicles.

Houston, June 1971; Moscow, November. Meetings of experts from the USSR AS and NASA, USA (headed by B.N. Petrov and R. Gilroot. System requirements for the space vehicles have been discussed, key technical solutions and guidelines offering the compatibility of the systems have been concurred including the potential for manned missions on the available space vehicles in the mid-1970's for purpose of testing rendezvous and docking equipment being developed.

Moscow, April 1972. The American delegation headed at the time being by the acting Administrator of NASA, Doctor J. Low and the Soviet delegation headed by the acting President of the USSR AS, Academician V.A. Kotelnikov have reviewed the work done and released a final document reasoning that the test mission on the available space vehicles - the Soviet Soyuz-type and the American Apollo-type vehicles is feasible and desirable.

May 1972. The Intergovernmental Agreement has been signed between the Soviet Union and the United States of America for cooperation in space exploration for peaceful purposes assuming activities under the Soyuz-Apollo Project. Appointed Project Managers were: for the Soviet part - K.D. Bushuev, a Corresponding Member of the USSR AS, for the American part - Doctor G. Lanny.

Moscow, May 1975. The final meeting between the USSR AS and NASA experts. The Project Managers and members of Working Groups have reported the Project development completion and mission readiness of Soyuz and Apollo space vehicles. The mission readiness final report has been signed by Academician V.A. Kotelnikov for the Soviet part and doctor J. Low for the American part.

The Soyuz-19 and Apollo launch date July 15, 1975 has been approved

Mission Chart of Soyuz and Apollo Vehicles