APOLLO SOYUZ (1975) - NASA Documentary

Video from the channel Retro Space HD about Apollo–Soyuz, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 27:28. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.

NASA film shot before the joint Apollo-Soyuz flight, combining a review of the space race with mission preparation. The first half covers milestones from both countries: the first Sputniks, the failure and later success of Vanguard, the creation of NASA out of NACA, the Pioneer and Luna lunar probes, the X-15 flights with Robert White and Joe Walker, Yuri Gagarin's flight on April 12, 1961, the Mercury program with Alan Shepard and John Glenn, the Vostok flights with Valentina Tereshkova, Alexei Leonov's spacewalk, the Gemini program and Ed White's flight, the Apollo fire that killed White, Grissom and Chaffee, the Surveyor probes, Luna 9 on February 3, 1966, and the Moon landing.

The footage dates from 1975, with archival images from earlier years. It shows the crews in training sessions in Houston and at the Gagarin center, at a meeting with President Ford, and at social events. It features Leonov and Stafford as commanders, Valeri Kubasov, who flew on Soyuz 6 in 1969, Vance Brand, and Deke Slayton, returned to flight status in 1972. Vladimir Shatalov, head of cosmonaut training, and the backup crews also appear.

The film explains that the main goal was to test a universal docking system that would allow future rescues, and that each crew learned the other's language. It details the planned schedule: Soyuz launch from Baikonur on July 15 at 12:20 GMT, Apollo launch seven and a half hours later from the Kennedy Space Center, Soyuz's circular orbit at 225 kilometers, and docking on its 36th orbit and Apollo's 29th. Mission communications would go through the ATS satellite in geosynchronous orbit, and eight controllers from each country would work in the other's control center.