Premier vol spatial conjoint entre les États-Unis et la Russie | Mission Apollo-Soyouz | Document...

Video from the channel The Best Film Archives about Apollo–Soyuz, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 29:41. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.

NASA film that follows the timeline of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, with flashback scenes of the preparation. It intercuts communications from the control centers, onboard footage and a narration that emphasizes cooperation between the two teams. It begins with the final approach of the two spacecraft, which docked in orbit about 140 miles above the Atlantic, near Portugal. It then shows the launch of Soyuz from Baikonur and that of Apollo from the Kennedy Space Center, with the full countdown. It also shows the extraction of the docking module from the S-IVB stage, the docking, the opening of the hatches and the crew transfers between spacecraft. It includes the messages from the Soviet and American leaders, the exchange of flags, the signing of the certificates for the International Aeronautical Federation, the dinner on board, the televised guided tours of each spacecraft and the presentation of spruce seeds and the two halves of a commemorative medal.

The footage was shot in July 1975 at Baikonur, at the Kennedy Space Center, at the control centers in Moscow and Houston, and in orbit. It is rounded out with scenes from the joint training sessions of the previous years. It ends with Apollo's splashdown in the Pacific, west of Hawaii, and the reception in the hangar of the USS New Orleans.

The film introduces the crew. Alexei Leonov, commander of Soyuz, was the first man to walk in space, in 1965, aboard Voskhod 2. Valeri Kubasov, flight engineer, had carried out the first welding experiments in weightlessness aboard Soyuz 6. Thomas Stafford, commander of Apollo, had commanded Apollo 10. Deke Slayton, one of the original seven astronauts, had been grounded by a cardiac irregularity and was reinstated in 1972 as pilot of the docking module. Vance Brand, command module pilot, was flying for the first time. The technical teams were led by Glynn Lunney and Konstantin Bushuyev, following the agreement signed in Moscow in 1972 to develop and test a universal docking system. The experiments shown include an electric furnace for alloys, an artificial eclipse to photograph the solar corona, the measurement of oxygen and nitrogen by ultraviolet absorption, and killifish on board. The film also highlights the discovery of extreme-ultraviolet sources. On return, it was learned that propellant gases had entered the cabin during reentry and the crew spent a few days hospitalized in Hawaii. The closing shows the Space Shuttle and the European Spacelab as a continuation of that cooperation.