Apollo-Soyuz was a joint NASA-USSR space project undertaken by the United States and Soviet Union on the planet Earth in the late 20th century.

History and specifics

The primary goal of the mission in 1975 was for the Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 command modules to dock together in orbit. Major General Alexey Leonov led the Soviet cosmonauts, while Brigadier General Thomas Stafford commanded the American astronauts.

Before the two ships docked, Leonov joked with Stafford not to forget to use the breaking thrusters. Leonov shook hands with Stafford on 17 July 1975 when they met in the docking collar between both ships. The event was reported in Time magazine. (ST reference: Spaceflight Chronology)

Though popularly referred to as Apollo 18, Apollo program capsule CSM-111 was not given an official Apollo nickname or number.

Appendices

References

• ST reference: Spaceflight Chronology
• ST reference: The Art of John Eaves

External links

• Apollo–Soyuz article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• Apollo-Soyuz article at Fandom's NASA Wiki.