{"id":168801,"date":"2015-07-10T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-362438"},"modified":"2023-07-25T12:12:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T16:12:59","slug":"apollo-soyuz-an-orbital-partnership-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/apollo-soyuz\/apollo-soyuz-an-orbital-partnership-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Apollo-Soyuz: An Orbital Partnership Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Most of us take it for granted today that American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts live and work together in Earth orbit. They\u2019ve been doing it for years, first in the Shuttle-Mir program, and now on the International Space Station. This orbital cooperation has grown to include partners in the Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies, and will continue well into the next decade, as humanity learns about living off the home planet to prepare for longer journeys beyond Earth orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg 2500w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=1024,682 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=900,600 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg 8052w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=600,450 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=900,675 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/467434main_astp03_crew_full.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>But before the two Cold War-rivals first met in orbit in 1975, such a partnership seemed unlikely. Since Sputnik bleeped into orbit in 1957, the superpowers were driven by the Space Race, with the U.S. and then-Soviet Union driven more by competition than cooperation. When President Kennedy called for a manned moon landing in 1961, he spoke of \u201cbattle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny\u201d and referred to the \u201chead start obtained by the Soviets with their large rocket engines.\u201d<br>\nBut by the mid-70s things had changed. The U.S. had \u201cwon\u201d the race to the Moon, with six Apollo landings between 1969 and 1972. Both nations had launched space stations, the Russian Salyut and American Skylab. With the Space Shuttle still a few years off and the diplomatic chill thawing, the time was right for a joint mission.<br>\nThe Apollo-Soyuz Test Project would send NASA astronauts Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton and Vance Brand in an Apollo Command and Service Module to meet Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov in a Soyuz capsule. A jointly designed, U.S.-built docking module fulfilled the main technical goal of the mission, demonstrating that two dissimilar craft could dock in orbit. But the human side of the mission went far beyond that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The training leading up to the mission exposed the two crews to each other\u2019s nations, helping to break down cultural and language barriers. As Brand said in a 2000 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jsc.nasa.gov\/history\/oral_histories\/BrandVD\/BrandVD_7-25-00.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a>, amid the Cold War tensions, \u201cwe thought they were pretty aggressive people and \u2026 they probably thought we were monsters. So we very quickly broke through that, because when you deal with people that are in the same line of work as you are, and you\u2019re around them for a short time, why, you discover that, well, they\u2019re human beings.\u201d<br>\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cWe were a little of a spark or a foot in the door that started better communications.\u201d<br>\n\u2013 Astronaut Vance Brand<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In a 1997 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jsc.nasa.gov\/history\/oral_histories\/StaffordTP\/TPS_10-15-97.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a>, Stafford described how they got around the language problem. \u201cEach crew would speak his own language, and the other would have to understand,\u201d he said. It just wasn\u2019t working, until Stafford and the Russian backup commander had the idea to speak in the other\u2019s language. \u201cSo we started,\u201d he said, \u201cand boy, it worked slick as a whistle.\u201d<br>\n<b>\u2018Hello, Darlin\u2019<\/b><br>\nOn July 17, 1975, the five explorers and the two craft -launched two days before \u2013 approached each other for docking. As Stafford guided the Apollo forward, Soyuz commander Leonov quipped \u201cTom, please don\u2019t forget about your engine.\u201d Just after noon on the East Coast in the U.S., with a live TV audience watching, the two craft finally met. \u201cSoyuz and Apollo are shaking hands now.\u201d<br>\nA few hours later it was the crew members <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=es7Br9kJBbo\" rel=\"noopener\">who were literally shaking hands<\/a>, exchanging hugs and ceremonial gifts, including U.S., Soviet and United Nations flags, commemorative plaques, medallions, certificates and tree seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The crews received a congratulatory message from Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oF9STEG2r9w\" rel=\"noopener\">a phone call from U.S. President Gerald Ford<\/a>, who joked with astronaut Slayton about being the \u201cworld\u2019s oldest space rookie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 51-year old Slayton had been one of the \u201cOriginal Seven\u201d Mercury astronauts, but was grounded due to a heart condition. Finally cleared to fly on Apollo-Soyuz, Slayton reported, \u201cit\u2019s been a great experience. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any way anybody can express how beautiful it is up here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"hds-media-import-wrapper hds-import-youtube-iframe-wrapper\"><figcaption>Astronaut Donald K. \u201cDeke\u201d Slayton embraces cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov in the Soyuz spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA. The Apollo-Soyuz crew, from left: American astronauts \u201cDeke\u201d Slayton, Tom Stafford, Vance Brand, Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov, Valeriy Kubasov. Photo credit: NASA. The crews photographed the Apollo, top, and Soyuz spacecraft as they approached each other. Photo credit: NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\nApollo Commander Stafford had another unique cultural exchange for the cosmonauts. He\u2019d gotten country music star Conway Twitty to record \u201cPrivet Radost,\u201d a Russian version of his hit \u201cHello, Darlin\u2019.\u201d About an hour before the two craft undocked, the song was played from orbit and heard all over the world. Mission Control quipped that it \u201csounded like it was from far Western Oklahoma, around Kiev.\u201d<br>\nThe Apollo crew returned to Earth on July 19, their Russian counterparts two days later. It would be two decades until the countries teamed up again with the Shuttle-Mir program, but the seed was planted. As Brand said, \u201cI really believe that we were sort of an example \u2026 to the countries. We were a little of a spark or a foot in the door that started better communications.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us take it for granted today that American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts live and work together in Earth orbit. They\u2019ve been doing it for years, first in the Shuttle-Mir program, and now on the International Space Station. This orbital cooperation has grown to include partners in the Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies, [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":175100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2714,3706,3711,3465],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[],"coauthors":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Apollo-Soyuz: An Orbital Partnership Begins","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/apollo-soyuz\/apollo-soyuz-an-orbital-partnership-begins\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/apollo-soyuz\/apollo-soyuz-an-orbital-partnership-begins\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg"},"articleSection":"Missions","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NASA"}],"creator":["NASA"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["Humans in Space","Astronauts","Former Astronauts","Vance D. Brand","Apollo-Soyuz","Donald K. Slayton","Thomas P. Stafford"],"dateCreated":"2015-07-10T16:00:00Z","datePublished":"2015-07-10T16:00:00Z","dateModified":"2023-07-25T16:12:59Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"Apollo-Soyuz: An Orbital Partnership Begins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/apollo-soyuz\/apollo-soyuz-an-orbital-partnership-begins\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2015-07-10T16:00:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Missions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"Humans in Space,Astronauts,Former Astronauts,Vance D. Brand,Apollo-Soyuz,Donald K. Slayton,Thomas P. Stafford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"NASA\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":5,"time_ago":"9 years","featured_image":{"id":175100,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/260346main_astp_hatch_full_full.jpg","title":"260346main_astp_hatch_full_full","alt":"","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255903,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168801\/revisions\/255903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168801"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=168801"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=168801"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=168801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}