A Handshake in Orbit 50 Years Ago Transformed the Space Race
'Glad to see you,' Col. Alexei Leonov spoke in accented English to Brig. Gen. Thomas Stafford of NASA.
'Ah, hello, very glad to see you,' General Stafford responded in his own accented Russian.
The two men then shook hands.
Today, Russian and American astronauts routinely share rides to the International Space Station, no matter the geopolitical conflict that divides their nations. But in the summer of 1975, seeing two men from rival nations greet each other in orbit across a bridge between their docked spacecraft was a powerful and unprecedented gesture witnessed by millions on the world spinning below.
The handshake, which occurred 50 years ago this July 17, defined the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first international human spaceflight. That simple symbol of partnership between bitter competitors remains an enduring legacy of the mission.
'It's amazing to think that two diametrically opposed countries with different systems and cultures, essentially ready to destroy each other, can somehow cooperate and do this highly technical, complicated mission,' said Asif Siddiqi, a professor of history at Fordham University and an expert on Russian space history.
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