Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Documentary Pt 2 of 3

Video from the channel Stafford Air & Space Museum about Apollo–Soyuz, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:42. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

This is the second of the three parts of the Stafford Air & Space Museum's documentary on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. It covers the mission's technical preparation and its first two days of joint flight, with the docking, crew transfers and onboard ceremonies.

The video introduces part of the crew. Deke Slayton returned to flight status in 1972 and was assigned as docking module pilot. Valeri Kubasov, 40, had been flight engineer on Soyuz 6, where he performed the first welding experiments in weightlessness. Vance Brand, command module pilot, was flying into space for the first time. The technical teams were led by Glynn Lunney on the American side and by Professor Konstantin Bushuyev on the Soviet side. They were organized into five joint working groups: communications and tracking, life support and crew transfer, mission planning, control and guidance, and mechanical design.

The universal docking system was an explicit goal of the space agreement signed in Moscow in 1972. Each country built its own half, but the joining interface had a unique design. With the go-ahead from Moscow and Houston, Stafford brought Apollo in to contact and capture. In the first transfer, Stafford and Slayton moved into Soyuz, where they were greeted by Leonov and Kubasov, while Brand kept watch over Apollo. Brezhnev and the American president sent congratulatory messages. The commanders exchanged flags, signed docking certificates for the International Aeronautical Federation and had dinner Russian-style. The second day included joint experiments in an electric furnace with alloys and crystals, further transfers, televised visits to both spacecraft and questions from the press.