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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
50 years after a historic handshake in space, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project's legacy still resonates
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. "Soyuz and Apollo are shaking hands now!" Fifty years ago today (July 17), at 12:09 p.m. EDT (1609 GMT), history was made as two crewed spacecraft launched by two countries docked together in orbit for the first time. Three American astronauts and two Russian (then Soviet) cosmonauts met up for just under two days of joint operations, setting the stage for future cooperation in space. "Very good to see you!" exclaimed Alexei Leonov, commander of the Soyuz side of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP, or Experimental-Flight Soyuz-Apollo in the Soviet Union), after the hatch between his spacecraft and the docking adapter was opened. "Very happy, my friend!" replied U.S. commander Thomas Stafford in "Oklahomski," his unique version of Russian with a heavy Oklahoma drawl. And then the Cold War rivals and space race competitors shook hands. Soon after, the rest of the crew — cosmonaut Valery Kubasov and astronauts Vance Brand and Donald "Deke" Slayton — joined in on the greetings. It was those two Americans' first time in space and Kubasov's second. Leonov had previously performed the world's first spacewalk, and Stafford was on his fourth flight; his previous off-Earth experiences included a trip around the moon. Glasnost and gifts "Your flight is a momentous event and a very great achievement, not only for the five of you but also for the thousands of American and Soviet scientists and technicians who have worked together for three years to ensure the success of this very historic and very successful experiment in international cooperation," said then-U.S. President Gerald Ford during a call to space from the White House at the time. "It has taken us many years to open this door to useful cooperation in space between our two countries, and I am confident that the day is not far off when space missions made possible by this first joint effort will be more or less commonplace," Ford said. To mark the occasion, the crew members exchanged gifts. Plaques and medallions that had been designed to separate into halves — so one half could launch on Apollo and the other on Soyuz — were reassembled in space. The crew also signed formal documents, known as the "Space Magna Carta," that certified that this was this was first international space docking. The commanders exchanged small flags of each others' countries and tree seeds to be planted later in their respective nations. The Soyuz crew also launched with a United Nations flag, which the American crew then brought back to Earth and which is on display today in the U.N.'s New York headquarters. The five crew members took turns touring each other's spacecraft and came together for joint meals. Leonov surprised his U.S. counterparts with squeeze tubes labeled as containing vodka — in reality, they were filled with borscht (cold beet soup). "The best part of a good dinner is not what you eat, but with whom you eat," said Leonov, replying to a reporter's question during a televised, in-flight press conference. The U.S. and USSR crews returned to their respective spacecraft to sleep, but otherwise worked as one crew as long as their vehicles were linked. After 44 hours, 2 minutes and 51 seconds, the Apollo command module undocked from the Soyuz, and, as planned, created an artificial solar eclipse for the cosmonauts to photograph. The U.S. crew then approached and docked with the Soyuz again for 2 hours, 52 minutes and 33 seconds before the two crews bid farewell to each and parted ways. Leonov and Kubasov returned to Earth on July 21, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan, while Stafford, Brand and Slayton stayed in orbit for another three days, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1975. "It made a big impression, not just on me, but on the rest of the world." NASA astronaut Mike Fincke 50-year-old foundation Despite preliminary talks about follow-up missions sending an Apollo capsule or space shuttle to a Soviet Salyut space station, the next time Russians and Americans would meet up in orbit coincided with the 100th U.S. human spaceflight, 20 years (almost to the day) after the ASTP crews exchanged handshakes. On June 29, 1995, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis docked with Roscosmos' Mir space station. This time it was Vladimir Dezhurov, the commander of Mir's 18th crew, who clasped hands with STS-71 commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson. The milestone was preceded by Russian cosmonauts flying with U.S. space shuttle crews and NASA astronauts joining Russian Soyuz crews, as well as a shuttle mission rendezvousing (but not docking) with Mir. After STS-71, eight more U.S. missions linked up with the Russian space station to rotate crews and deliver components for the complex. The Shuttle-Mir program was considered Phase 1 of the International Space Station (ISS) program. Related Stories: — Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: Russians, Americans meet in space — Apollo-Soyuz astronaut reflects on changing U.S.-Russia relations in space — What was the space race? On Nov. 2, 2000, just about midway between the ASTP mission and today, astronaut William "Bill" Shepard and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev became the first crew to take up residency on board the ISS. Since then, for nearly 25 years, there has not been a day when U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts have not been in space together. "It made a really huge impression on me to see some people from the Soviet Union, which at the time we were not very good friends with in the middle of the Cold War, and then these brave American astronauts get along really well and cordially and with friendship," Mike Fincke, who as a NASA astronaut is set to return to the International Space Station for his fourth time on SpaceX's Crew-11 launch at the end of this month, said during a July 10 press conference in Houston. Fincke was 8 years old when the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project occurred. "It made a big impression, not just on me, but on the rest of the world — that if the Soviet Union and United States can work together in space, maybe we can work together here on Earth," he said. Solve the daily Crossword
Observer
2 days ago
- Politics
- Observer
A handshake in orbit 50 years ago transformed the space race
Some 140 miles above France, American astronauts opened a spacecraft hatch and found themselves face to face with cosmonauts from the Soviet Union. '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,' 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 on 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 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. A generation after the orbital handclasp, the Soviets and the United States would come together to build the ISS. The aging space outpost's days are finite, and there are no immediate plans for Russia and the U.S. to sustain their cooperation in human spaceflight. The U.S. also sees itself as competing with China for dominance in space. But experts like Siddiqi see reasons for hope on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz mission. 'Whenever people tell me that this would never happen today, I always think, Well, that's what people said in the late '60s,' Siddiqi said. 'Androgynous' Dock Early in the space age, as America raced to catch up to the Soviet Union, a partnership in space had been proposed. In September 1963, speaking before the United Nations General Assembly two months before his assassination, President John F. Kennedy floated a joint mission to the moon. 'Why, therefore, should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition?' he asked. 'Surely we should explore whether the scientists and astronauts of our two countries — indeed of all the world — cannot work together in the conquest of space.' This dream was deferred, and the U.S. would overtake the Soviets in the moon race with the successful Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Oddly, the American moon landing may have created a new window for cooperation. Public support for the Apollo missions fell, and the program was cut short after the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. That left the U.S. space program without an immediate objective. In parallel, both nations' reputations were tarnished abroad, the Soviet Union by its invasion of Czechoslovakia, and America by its involvement in the Vietnam War. That created an additional motivation to jointly reassert each country's status atop the global hierarchy. 'They needed to lift themselves and cooperate to show the rest of the world: We are as super and as great as ever before. We're doing things which no country can do in a similar capacity,' said Olga Krasnyak, an associate professor of international relations at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. This mutually recognized opportunity for prestige led to tentative talks between the country's officials in 1970. From the get-go, it was clear that the mission faced immense diplomatic, technical, and cultural obstacles. There was no smooth glide path to launch. 'How do we communicate with people who speak entirely different languages, and who think differently about engineering and problem-solving?' Brian C. Odom, NASA's chief historian, said. 'On paper, it seems easy. You launch, we launch, we come together, we shake hands, we go our separate ways. But making that happen, where you don't have five people dying in orbit, is incredibly difficult.' The sudden switch from enemies to partners, at least in this limited case, caused whiplash for the public and politicians alike (a scenario that was dramatized in the Apple TV alternative history series 'For All Mankind'). Zbigniew Brzezinski, who later served as Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, criticized the Nixon and Ford administrations for the mission, calling it a 'technological giveaway.' Soviet space officials, who had long worked in secrecy, had to overcome wariness about loosening the flow of information to an adversary. The country's diplomats had to ensure that plans could be discussed without divulging anything sensitive to national security. Both sides were suspicious of the safety of the other's flagship spacecraft. The three astronauts selected for Apollo 1 perished in a fire during a rehearsal in 1967, while the three cosmonauts of Soyuz 11 died in space in 1971 when their cabin depressurized. Snipes about the superiority of one side's spacecraft over the other rankled insiders of the mission. American astronauts were used to a much more hands-on guidance system with Apollo, whereas Soyuz was largely automatic and controlled from the ground. The vehicles even used different atmospheres in their interiors. Soyuz simulates the familiar conditions of Earth, with a nitrogen-oxygen air mixture and a pressure equivalent to our planet at sea level. Apollo, in contrast, used a pure oxygen atmosphere at a much lower pressure. This discrepancy was solved by the development of a docking module with airtight hatches at each end. Once the module connected the two craft, crew members from one vehicle could enter, ensuring that both hatches were closed while it pressurized to match conditions of the other side. When that process was complete, the hatch to the other vehicle could be opened, allowing crews to safely enter without risking 'the bends,' a condition caused by rapid depressurization. For this particular mission, the Soyuz was kept at a lower pressure than normal to ease transitions between vehicles. The docking module was also purposefully designed to be androgynous to ensure that neither spacecraft was perceived as 'female,' or passive. As the mission planners navigated these headaches, a deep and abiding friendship flourished between the astronauts and cosmonauts. The Apollo side, headed by Stafford, also included Donald 'Deke' Slayton and Vance Brand. Leonov flew on the Soyuz side with Valery Kubasov. The crews learned each other's languages, though Leonov jokingly called Stafford's drawling pronunciation 'Oklahomski.' They trained together at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston and Star City, the Russian space center outside Moscow. During these meetings, the space travelers hunted, drank and partied together. They shared steam baths and got into snowball fights. The two commanders remained particularly close for the rest of their lives: Leonov helped Stafford adopt two children from Russia, and Stafford gave a eulogy in Russian (or, rather, Oklahomski) at Leonov's funeral in 2019. The crews were 'setting an example, by being friendly and demonstrating cooperation,' said Brand, the last living member of the mission, in a 2000 interview with Rebecca Wright of NASA's Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. 'We actually came to have a very close relationship with the Soviet crew,' he added. Strawberry Juice and Borscht Against all odds, the crews finally reached their launch pads during the summer of 1975. On July 15, the Soyuz crew blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, followed by the Apollo crew, which launched about seven hours later from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The lead-up to docking was relatively smooth, though the Apollo crew discovered a 'super Florida mosquito' had stowed away with them, and Stafford joked that a juice spill had turned the Apollo into a 'strawberry-colored spacecraft.' The spaceships successfully docked at 12:12 p.m. Eastern time, July 17, high above the Atlantic Ocean. Hours later, the historic handshake was broadcast live to millions of viewers. The mission even inspired a cocktail called the Link Up, with equal parts Southern Comfort and vodka mixed with lime and ice, served at London's Savoy Hotel. The crew spent the next two days exchanging gifts, dining together (including borscht toasts), listening to music, and conducting experiments. The ships parted ways on July 19. After all the mutual worries about spacecraft safety, it was Apollo that ended up experiencing a serious incident, as toxic fumes filled the capsule during reentry. The brand lost consciousness, and the crew was hospitalized after splashdown. Despite this frightening conclusion of the mission, the astronauts quickly recovered and the mission was hailed as a diplomatic and technical success. 'A Little Bit Messy' A second Apollo-Soyuz mission was planned, but it never panned out. U.S.-Soviet tensions rose again during the late 1970s and into the 1980s. The countries did not directly team up again for years. However, both superpowers fostered new collaborations with their allies. During the 1980s, NASA space shuttle crews included Canadian, European, and Japanese astronauts, while the Soviet Union launched cosmonauts who came from Cuba, Poland, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and other countries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Americans and Russians again joined forces in space, first aboard the Mir space station in the early 1990s. The American-Russian partnership is now the backbone of the ISS, which has remained continuously inhabited since the year 2000. That outpost is in its twilight years. Russia is discussing building its own separate successor space station, and the U.S. is seeding commercial outposts in orbit — efforts that can make Apollo-Soyuz seem like a distant memory. But Krasnyak, the Russian international relations expert, said that the legacy of this mission, and cooperative space exploration in general, remains important to Russians 50 years later. Whether the U.S. and Russia partner on future human spaceflights or not, she noted that the two powers continue to be world leaders shaping international deliberations on space. Siddiqi, the historian of Russian spaceflight, views the 1975 U.S.-Soviet mission as a forerunner for the complex international partnerships that characterize modern spaceflight, even if it's in a 'roundabout way.' 'It was a little bit messy, but the road leads back to Apollo-Soyuz,' he said. 'Other historians would see it differently, as a kind of rupture or as a one-off, but I see a lot of continuities.' Odom, NASA's chief historian, does not see Apollo-Soyuz as a direct progenitor of the ISS, or of other subsequent space collaborations. From his perspective, the mission's legacy is grounded more in the context of a time when two feuding powers extended an olive branch into orbit, with repercussions for how their citizens viewed each other back on Earth. 'The people who were involved come away from it thinking about what cooperation really might mean,' Odom said. 'If we can cooperate with the Soviet Union in this way, we can cooperate with anyone.' The direct communication and interpersonal relationships were a powerful spinoff from the mission, Odom added. 'The thing that they come away with is that 'oh, you're human beings just like us,' he said. 'You're not the monsters that we imagined or feared that you would be. You're just people trying to do a job and go about your daily life.' This article originally appeared in
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Science
- NZ Herald
A handshake in orbit 50 years ago transformed the space race
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project brought Soviet cosmonauts and Nasa astronauts together in the first international human spaceflight. Some 225km above France, American astronauts opened a spacecraft hatch and found themselves face to face with cosmonauts from the Soviet Union. 'Glad to see you,' Colonel Alexei Leonov spoke in accented English
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
From The Hindu, July 17, 1975: Astronauts remove stuck docking mechanism
Space centre (Houston), July 16: The Soviet Soyuz spacecraft to-day shifted into position for a cosmic link-up with the American Apollo ship to-morrow while astronauts and cosmonauts used a screwdriver, pieces of tape and bandaids for repairs aboard their ships. After removing a stuck docking mechanism from a tunnel which will connect the two spaceships when they hook up, the astronauts replayed televised pictures of the tunnel to Houston Mission Control as they inspected it and found it in good condition. The cosmonauts repaired their balky TV camera and began transmitting clear pictures to earth. Cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov fired their spaceship engine for 21 seconds and reported the manoeuvre was performed perfectly. The Moscow Mission Control Centre reported the burn placed Soyuz in a near-circular orbit of 220 km to 223 km above the earth, precisely where the cosmonauts want to receive the visiting Americans at 16 15 GMT (21 45 IST) over West Germany. Apollo too conducted two orbital shifts and plans several more as it closes in on Soyuz, serving as the target vehicle in the celestial chase. The docking probe problem was discovered aboard Apollo last night.
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Science
- New York Times
A Handshake in Orbit 50 Years Ago Transformed the Space Race
Some 140 miles above France, American astronauts opened a spacecraft hatch and found themselves face to face with cosmonauts from the Soviet Union. '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. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
