Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: US & USSR Space Mission

Video from the channel Space Intelligence about Apollo–Soyuz, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 5:50. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Explanatory walkthrough of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The presenter, John Williams, describes the pieces: an Apollo that is a test article built by NASA, a model of the Soyuz 7K-TM built by Energia and, between the two, a docking module that is actual flight hardware, the backup unit for the one that flew.

The 1975 mission was the first international crewed mission and a gesture of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War. The US crew consisted of Deke Slayton, Vance Brand and Thomas Stafford. The two spacecraft launched on 15 July 1975 about seven hours apart and docked on 17 July. After equalizing pressures, the commanders shook hands.

The two spacecraft had different atmospheres, and the docking module allowed passage from one to the other. The APAS-75 system is presented as the forerunner of the International Space Station's ports. The Soviet spacecraft flew as Soyuz 19. Also shown is an actual descent capsule, not the one from this mission, with the marks of reentry. It was the last Apollo to fly: the United States did not launch crews again until the shuttle, and the next cooperation between the two countries was the docking of Atlantis with Mir.