Apollo–Soyuz
Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. The project, and its handshake in space, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers during the Cold War.
Mission type
Cooperative/scientific
- Soyuz: 1975-065A
- Apollo: 1975-066A
- Soyuz: 08030
- Apollo: 08032
- Soyuz: 5 d 22 h 30 m
- Apollo: 9 d 01 h 28 m
- Soyuz: 96
- Apollo: 148
- Soyuz 7K-TM No.75
- Apollo CSM-111
- Docking Module
- Soyuz: 6,790 kg (14,970 lb)
- Apollo: 14,768 kg (32,558 lb)
- Docking Module: 2,012 kg (4,436 lb)
Soyuz: 2
Apollo: 3
- Soyuz: 12:20:00, 15 July 1975 (UTC)
- Apollo: 19:50:00, 15 July 1975 (UTC)
- Soyuz: Soviet Armed Forces
- Apollo: USS New Orleans
- Soyuz: 10:50:00, 21 July 1975 (UTC)
- Apollo: 21:18:00, 24 July 1975 (UTC)
217.0 km
231.0 km
51.8°[1]
88.91 minutes
First: 16:19:09, 17 July 1975 (UTC)
Last: 15:26:12, 19 July 1975 (UTC)
47 hours and 7 minutes
The mission was officially known as the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP; Russian: Экспериментальный полёт «Союз» – «Аполлон» (ЭПАС), romanized: Eksperimentalniy polyot Soyuz–Apollon (EPAS), lit. 'Experimental flight Soyuz-Apollo', and commonly referred to in the Soviet Union as Soyuz–Apollo; the Soviets officially designated the mission as Soyuz 19). The unnumbered American vehicle was left over from the canceled Apollo missions, and was the last Apollo module to fly.
The three American astronauts, Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, and Deke Slayton, and two Soviet cosmonauts, Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov, performed both joint and separate scientific experiments, including an arranged eclipse of the Sun by the Apollo module to allow instruments on the Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona. The pre-flight work provided useful engineering experience for later joint American–Russian space flights, such as the Shuttle–Mir program and the International Space Station.
Apollo–Soyuz was the last crewed United States spaceflight for nearly six years until the first launch of the Space Shuttle on 12 April 1981, and the last crewed United States spaceflight in a space capsule until Crew Dragon Demo-2 on 30 May 2020.
Soyuz 19 as seen from the Apollo
Mission control center in Houston during ASTP
The historic handshake between Stafford and Leonov
Deke Slayton (right) with Leonov in the Soyuz spacecraft
The astronauts and cosmonauts assembled this commemorative plaque in orbit as a symbol of the international cooperation.
