Apollo-Soyuz Program

The Apollo-Soyuz Program, begun in 333 BSC (1963 AD), was the joint effort between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to achieve mankind's goal of exploring space. It was the brainchild of collaboration between President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. The historical impact of the program was tremendous. It led directly to the end of the Cold War and an opening up of relations between the East and the West.
The program's final mission was Apollo-Soyuz 20 in 1973 and transitioned into the Space Station program that would establish humanity's permanent presence in space.
== Outline ==
The program took the best of the Sputnik, Vostok, Mercury, and Gemini space programs with the explicit goal of landing a human being on Luna by the end of the 1960's. The Apollo program had been testing it's new technology for about two years. An open exchange of research and scientists between the two super powers allowed for great advances in the respective programs.
The Soviets, under the direction of Sergei Korolev, developed the Soyuz-A and Soyuz 7K-OK vehicles while the Americans developed the Saturn series of rockets under the Apollo program. The vehicles were designed to rendezvous in Earth orbit and take the three day journey to Lunar orbit together.
In 1967, the Soviets put the first woman Valentina Tereshkova in orbit around Earth. The same year, on 9 November 1967, the first flight of the Saturn V rocket took place successfully. 
In 1968, Apollo-Soyuz 7 became the first successful manned Apollo-Soyuz mission. Later that year, Apollo-Soyuz 8 becomes the first flight to circumnavigate Luna.
Apollo-Soyuz 9 tested the Lunar Modules necessary for landing on Luna and demonstrated that rendezvous between the various parts of the Apollo and Soyuz rockets was possible.
Apollo-Soyuz 10 was the "dress rehearsal" for the Apollo-Soyuz Landing, going so far as to land on the Lunar surface without disembarking.
Apollo-Soyuz 11 was the Apollo-Soyuz Landing.
Apollo-Soyuz 12 - 17 were return missions to Luna conducting scientific experiments and gathering Lunar samples.
Apollo-Soyuz 20 was the final mission of the program. It put Skylab and Salyut in orbit, humankind's first space stations. This was the smooth transition to the Space Station program.
Category:Space Age