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In an unpredictable era that has seen the Cold War rekindled, it's worth remembering a remarkable event that took place 50 years ago when the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union, took place. It resulted in an historic handshake in space that was televised around the world.
The purpose and catalyst of what was known as the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project was the policy of détente between the two superpowers. It briefly united two different countries and two different ideologies. Half a century later, however, relations between America and Russia are at their lowest point since the Cold War.
Click through the following gallery and be reminded of that extraordinary moment in 1975 high above the Earth.
In May 1972, US President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin signed an agreement in Moscow paving the way for the historic Apollo–Soyuz mission. The Americans officially called the mission the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) while the Soviets named it Experimental flight "Soyuz"–"Apollo."
In June 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young, Charles Duke, and Thomas Mattingly, together with NASA Administrator Dr. James Fletcher, presented a model of the Apollo-Soyuz spacecrafts to President Richard Nixon at the White House.
Three American astronauts, Donald "Deak" Slayton, Vance D. Brand, and Thomas P. Stafford, were selected as the prime crew representing the United States.
The two Soviet prime crewmen of the project were cosmonauts Valery Nikolayevich Kubasov and Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov.
The five crewmen began an intense period of training at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The astronauts and cosmonauts held two weeks of joint training sessions at Houston, which included familiarization in the Apollo Command Module.
Besides the Apollo Command Module, the crewmen also trained in the docking module, Soyuz simulators and mock-ups, and continued training in each other's languages, including spacecraft-to-spacecraft communications. They also received briefings on the science experiments planned for their joint mission.
In February 1975, the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts held their final joint training session in the United States.
As the launch date approached, the crews held a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. They provided an overview of their mission to the media and were feted during a farewell reception. The cosmonauts departed Houston on March 1 to return to the Soviet Union. The crews would meet one more time before their historic mission, at Star City near Moscow in late April.
Meanwhile, final preparations and pre-launch checks were carried out by teams of American and Soviet scientists and flight technicians on their respective ships.
On July 15, the Apollo astronauts walked towards the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center. At Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the two cosmonauts were also gearing up for the launch.
Later that morning, the Soyuz-U rocket carrying the cosmonauts took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Early evening on July 15, a Saturn IB blasted off from Cape Canaveral to take the American crew into orbit.
NASA published an artist's illustration of the ASTP mission sequence, which highlighted each stage of the flightpath.
The Apollo spacecraft underwent a series of rendezvous maneuvers on its approach to the Soyuz spaceship.
Meanwhile, the Soyuz 19 began a circularization maneuver that lined it up with the Apollo command module.
The Soyuz 19 space capsule edged closer to the American ship in one of the most complicated phases of the mission.
Pictured: the American Apollo spacecraft is seen from Soyuz 19 as it closed in on the Soviet ship to successfully dock with the Russians.
Three hours later, the two mission commanders, Stafford and Leonov, exchanged the first international handshake in space through the open hatch of the Soyuz.
During the first exchange between the astronauts and the cosmonauts, the crews received a telephone call from US President Gerald Ford congratulating them on the historic achievement. They were also read a statement from Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.
While the two ships were docked 137 miles (222 km) above the Earth's surface, the three Americans and two Soviets conducted joint scientific experiments.
Flags and gifts were exchanged, and Alexei Leonov, the Soviet mission commander, even found time to sketch a portrait of his American counterpart, Thomas Stafford.
The crews visited each other's ships, ate together, and conversed the best they could in each other's languages.
One of the more delicate technical procedures were the docking and redocking maneuvers, during which the two spacecraft reversed roles and the Soyuz became the "active" ship.
After 44 hours together, the two ships separated and went their separate ways. However, both remained in orbit, the Apollo craft for a further five days, the Soviet ship for two.
The Soviet cosmonauts soft-landed near Baikonur on July 21, 1975. Photographers were on hand to capture the moment for posterity as Valery Kubasov autographed the Soyuz-19 space capsule.
The ASTP Apollo command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii on July 24, 1975, ending the American crew's historic nine-day mission into space.
On July 16, 2010, Valery Kubasov, Thomas Stafford, and Vance Brand reunited with one another at the New York Stock Exchange in honor of the 35th anniversary of the mission.
Scale models of the joined Apollo and Soyuz spaceships can be admired at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. and at the RKK Energia Museum near Moscow.
This is the official emblem of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, chosen by NASA and the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The badge features the words Apollo, in English, and Soyuz, which actually means "union" in Russian.
Sources: (NASA) (Spaceline Org)
See also: A history of famous firsts in space
Apollo–Soyuz: when American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts shook hands in space
Remembering the historic linkup in space
LIFESTYLE Science
In an unpredictable era that has seen the Cold War rekindled, it's worth remembering a remarkable event that took place 50 years ago when the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union, took place. It resulted in an historic handshake in space that was televised around the world.
The purpose and catalyst of what was known as the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project was the policy of détente between the two superpowers. It briefly united two different countries and two different ideologies. Half a century later, however, relations between America and Russia are at their lowest point since the Cold War.
Click through the following gallery and be reminded of that extraordinary moment in 1975 high above the Earth.