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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Apollo Soyuz Test Project

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1975

Historical Note: Apollo Soyuz Test Project

The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), which took place in July 1975, was the first joint American-Soviet space flight. The collaborative project was based on a 1972 agreement signed by U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin. It set a precedent for future joint efforts, such as the Shuttle-Mir Program and the International Space Station. The project was specifically designed to test the compatibility of rendezvous and docking systems.

On July 15, 1975 the United States launched an Apollo command and service module on a Saturn IB rocket. The Apollo spacecraft was nearly identical to the type that orbited the moon but was modified to provide for experiments, extra propellant tanks and the addition of controls and equipment related to the docking module. The Apollo spacecraft carried a crew of three: Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, and Deke Slayton. It docked two days after launch on July 17, with a Soyuz spacecraft and its crew of two (Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov). The Soyuz was the Soviet's primary spacecraft used for manned flight since its introduction in 1967. NASA designed and constructed the docking module to serve as an airlock and transfer corridor between the two spacecraft. During the two days of joint activities, the mission's two Soviet cosmonauts and three U.S. astronauts carried out five joint experiments and exchanged commemorative items.

After the two spacecraft separated, teh Apollo capsule remained in space for five more days and the Soyuz capsule remained in space for two more days. The crews used the time to capture photographs fo the sun's corona and to observe and photograph the Earth from outer space, providing scientists with new data for exploring and studying the Earth from orbit.

The ASTP mission was considered successful. It was also the final flight of an Apollo spacecraft.

Note derived from information on NASA.gov and Wikipedia.

Citation

https://www.nasa.gov/apollo-soyuz/overview

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Russian Transpolar Flight Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2012-12-23
Abstract The Russian Transpolar Flight Collection primarily documents the June 1937 transpolar flight by Russian aviators Valery Chkalov, Georgii Baidukov, and V. Belydakov with photographs, clippings, audio-visual materials, and various textual materials. It also features a small amount of material about the July 1937 transpolar flight by Russian aviators M. Gromov, Sergei Danilin, and Andrei Yumashev, as well as general Russia-related research materials.

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