ApolloSoyuz Test ProjectFrom Wikipedia, the free
encyclopediaApolloSoyuz Test Project
The Apollo spacecraft, as seen by the Soyuz crew.
Mission typeCooperative/scientific
OperatorNASA
Mission duration9 d 01 h 28 min
Distance travelled~5,990,000km (3,720,000mi)
Orbits completed148
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftApollo CSM-111
Launch mass16,780kg or 36,990lb (total CSM and DM)
Dry mass14,768kg (32,558lb) (CSM)
Payload mass2,012kg or 4,436lb (Docking Module)
Crew
Crew size3
MembersThomas P. StaffordVance D. BrandDonald K. Slayton
CallsignApollo
Start of mission
Launch date19:50:00, July15,1975 (UTC)
RocketSaturn IB SA-210
Launch siteKennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Landing date21:18:00, July24,1975 (UTC)
Landing site2152N 16245W
Orbital parameters
Perigee217km (135mi)
Apogee231km (144mi)
Inclination51.7 or 51.75[which?]
Period87.6 or 88.91 minutes[which?]
Docking with Soyuz 19
Docking dateFirst: 16:19:09, July17,1975 (UTC)
Undocking dateLast: 15:26:12, July19,1975 (UTC)
Time docked1 day, 23 hours, 07 min, 03 sec
Left to right: Slayton, Brand, Stafford
The ApolloSoyuz Test Project (ASTP) (Russian: , Eksperimantalniy
polyot Soyuz-Apollon, lit. "Experimental flight Soyuz-Apollo"),
conducted in July 1975, was the first joint U.S.Soviet space
flight, and the last flight of an Apollo spacecraft.Its primary
purpose was as a symbol of the policy of dtente that the two
superpowers were pursuing at the time, and marked the end of the
Space Race between them that began in 1957.The mission included
both joint and separate scientific experiments (including an
engineered eclipse of the Sun by Apollo to allow Soyuz to take
photographs of the solar corona), and provided useful engineering
experience for future joint USRussian space flights, such as the
ShuttleMir Program and the International Space Station.ASTP was the
last manned US space mission until the first Space Shuttle flight
in April 1981. It was also U.S. astronaut Donald "Deke" Slayton's
only space flight. He was chosen as one of the original Mercury
Seven astronauts in April 1959, but had been grounded until 1972
for medical reasons.Contents 1 Apollo crew 1.1 Backup crew 1.2 Crew
notes 2 Soyuz crew 2.1 Backup crew 3 Historical background 4
Mission summary 4.1 Background 4.2 Launch and mission 4.3 Re-entry
and aftermath 5 Spacecraft locations 6 Legacy 7 Commemorations 7.1
Monument 8 Program cost 9 See also 10 References 11 External
linksApollo crew
A Saturn IB launch vehicle lifts the American ASTP crew into
orbit.PositionAstronaut
CommanderThomas P. StaffordFourth and last spaceflight
Command Module PilotVance D. BrandFirst spaceflight
Docking Module PilotDonald K. SlaytonOnly spaceflight
Backup crewPositionAstronaut
CommanderAlan L. Bean
Command Module PilotRonald E. Evans
Docking Module PilotJack R. Lousma
Crew notes
Mission control center in Houston during ASTP.Jack Swigert had
originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP
prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed
as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp
incident.[1]Support crewKarol J. Bobko, Robert L. Crippen, Robert
F. Overmyer, Richard H. TrulyFlight directorsPete Frank (Orange
team), Neil Hutchinson (Silver team), Don Puddy (Crimson team),
Frank Littleton (Amber team)Soyuz crew
A Soyuz-U launch vehicle lifts the Soviet crew into orbit.Soyuz
19
Soyuz 19 as seen from the Apollo.
Mission typeCooperative/scientific
Mission duration5 d 22 h 30 m
Distance travelled~3,900,000km (2,400,000mi)
Orbits completed96
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz 7K-TM
Dry mass6,790kg (14,970lb)
Crew
Crew size2
MembersAlexey LeonovValeri Kubasov
Callsign (Soyuz - "Union")
Start of mission
Launch date12:20:00, July15,1975 (UTC)
RocketSoyuz-U
Launch siteGagarin's StartBaikonur CosmodromeKazakh SSR
End of mission
Landing date10:50:00, July21,1975 (UTC)
Orbital parameters
Perigee218km (135mi) or 186km (116mi)[which?]
Apogee231km (144mi) or 220km (140mi)[which?]
Inclination51.76 or 51.8[which?]
Period88.92 or 88.5 min[which?]
Docking with Apollo
Docking dateFirst: 16:19:09, July17,1975 (UTC)
Undocking dateLast: 15:26:12, July19,1975 (UTC)
Time docked1 day, 23 hours, 07 min, 03 sec
Soyuz crew pictured with the Apollo crewLeft to right: Slayton,
Stafford, Brand, Leonov, Kubasov
Soyuz programme
Soyuz 18Soyuz 20
PositionCosmonaut
CommanderAlexey LeonovSecond and last spaceflight
Flight EngineerValeri KubasovSecond spaceflight
Backup crewPositionCosmonaut
CommanderAnatoly Filipchenko
Flight EngineerNikolay Rukavishnikov
Historical backgroundThe purpose and catalyst of the ApolloSoyuz
Test Project was the policy of dtente between the two Cold War
superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Prior to this
mission, tensions remained high between the two world superpowers
while the United States was engaged in the Vietnam War. Meanwhile,
the Soviet press was highly critical of the Apollo space missions,
printing "the armed intrusion of the United States and Saigon
puppets into Laos is a shameless trampling underfoot of
international law" over a photograph of the Apollo 14 launch in
1971.[2] Although Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev made the Soviet
Unions policy of dtente official in his 1956 doctrine of peaceful
coexistence at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union, the two nations seemed to be in perpetual
conflict.Due to tense relations, space cooperation between the
United States and the Soviet Union was unlikely in the early 1970s.
Each nation was making its own extravagant claims about
accomplishments in space[dubious discuss]. Most recently on June 7,
1971, the USSR had bragging rights over the first piloted orbital
space station, Salyut 1. Meanwhile, the United States had launched
the Apollo 14 mission several months prior, the third spacecraft to
land humans on the moon. Each side gave the other close to no
coverage whatsoever of their achievements.[2]Furthermore, both
sides had severe criticisms of the other sides engineering. Soviet
spacecraft were designed with automation in mind; the Lunokhod 1
and Luna 16 were both unmanned probes, and each Soyuz spacecraft
had been designed to minimize risk due to human error by having
fewer manual controls with which human operators would have to
contend during flight. By contrast, the Apollo spacecraft was
designed to be operated by humans and required highly trained
astronauts in order to operate. The Soviet Union accused the Apollo
spacecraft of being "extremely complex and dangerous".[2]The
Americans also had their own concerns about Soviet spacecraft.
Christopher Johnson, director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center,[when?] critiqued the design of the Soyuz: "We in NASA rely
on redundant components--if an instrument fails during flight, our
crews switch to another in an attempt to continue the mission. Each
Soyuz component, however, is designed for a specific function; if
one fails, the cosmonauts land as soon as possible. The Apollo
vehicle also relied on astronaut piloting to a much greater extent
than did the Soyuz machine".[3] However, American and Soviet
engineers already settled their differences for a possible docking
of American and Soviet spacecraft in meetings between June and
December 1971 in Houston and Moscow, including Bill Creasys design
of an androgynous docking system between the two ships that would
allow either to be active or passive during docking.[4]With the
close of the Vietnam War, relations between the United States and
the USSR began to improve, as did the prognosis for a potential
cooperative space mission.[2] The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was
made possible by the thaw in these relations, and the project
itself endeavored to amplify and solidify the improving relations
between the United States and the Soviet Union. According to Soviet
leader Leonid Brezhnev, "The Soviet and American spacemen will go
up into outer space for the first major joint scientific experiment
in the history of mankind. They know that from outer space our
planet looks even more beautiful. It is big enough for us to live
peacefully on it, but it is too small to be threatened by nuclear
war".[2] Thus, both sides recognized ASTP as a political act of
peace.[5]In October 1970, Soviet Academy of Sciences president
Mstislav Keldysh responded to NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paines
letter proposing a project about a cooperative space mission, and
there was subsequently a meeting to discuss technical details. By
January 12, U.S. President Richard Nixon's Foreign Policy Adviser
Henry Kissinger enthusiastically espoused plans for the mission,
and expressed these views to NASA administrator George M. Low: "As
long as you stick to space, do anything you want to do. You are
free to commit--in fact, I want you to tell your counterparts in
Moscow that the President has sent you on this mission."[6] By
April 1972, both the United States and the USSR signed an Agreement
Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space
for Peaceful Purposes,[7] committing both the USSR and the United
States to the launch of the ApolloSoyuz Test Project in
1975.[8]
U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin
(seated) sign an agreement paving the way for the ApolloSoyuz
flight, May 1972ASTP was particularly significant for the USSRs
policy of keeping the details of their space program secret from
the Soviet people and the world at large, especially Americans. The
ASTP was the first space mission to be televised in a live fashion
during the launch, while in space, and during the landing.[2]
Furthermore, Soyuz 19 was the first spacecraft to which a foreign
flight crew had access before flight. The Apollo crew were
permitted to inspect Soyuz 19 as well as the launch and crew
training site, constituting an unprecedented sharing of information
with Americans about any Soviet space program.Not all reactions to
ASTP were positive, however. Many Americans feared that ASTP was
giving the USSR too much credit in their space program, putting
them on equal footing with the sophisticated space exploration
efforts of NASA. More feared that the apparent peaceful cooperation
between the USSR and the United States would lull people into
believing there was no conflict at all between the two
superpowers.[2] However, soliciting appropriations from the
American Congress proved to be quite difficult, which was not a
problem in the Soviet Union, and the dedication to space
exploration demonstrated by the Soviet Union rejected these
criticisms. Some Soviet publicists called American critics of the
mission "demagogues who stand against scientific cooperation with
the U.S.S.R."[2] In general, however, tensions between the United
States and the USSR had softened, and the project set a precedent
for future cooperative projects in space.[7]Mission summary
A 1973 artist's conception of an Apollo-type spacecraft (on
left) about to dock with a Soviet Soyuz-type
spacecraft.BackgroundThe ApolloSoyuz Test Project entailed the
docking of an American Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) with a
Soviet Soyuz 7K-TM spacecraft. Although the Soyuz was given a
mission designation number (Soyuz 19) as part of the ongoing Soyuz
program, it was referred to simply as "Soyuz" for the duration of
the joint mission. Similarly, the call sign for the Apollo
spacecraft during the mission was simply "Apollo". A few NASA web
pages refer to the spacecraft as "Apollo 18" but this should not be
confused with the canceled lunar mission.[9][10][11][12]The Apollo
spacecraft was launched with a docking module specially designed to
enable the two spacecraft to dock with each other, used only once
for this mission. The Saturn IB launch vehicle and CSM were surplus
material. Like the Apollo Lunar Module, the docking module had to
be retrieved from the S-IVB upper-stage of the Saturn rocket after
launch. The docking module was designed as both an airlock as the
Apollo was pressurized at 5.0 psi using pure oxygen, while the
Soyuz used a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere at sea level pressure and
an adapter, since the surplus Apollo hardware used for the ASTP
mission was not equipped with the APAS docking collar jointly
developed by NASA and the Soviet Academy of Sciences for the
mission. One end of the docking module was attached to the Apollo
using the same "probe-and-drogue" docking mechanism used on the
Lunar Module and the Skylab space station, while its other end had
the APAS docking collar, which Soyuz 19 carried in place of the
standard Soyuz/Salyut system of the time. The APAS collar fitted
onto Soyuz 19 was releasable, allowing the two spacecraft to
separate.The Apollo flew with a three-man crew on board: Tom
Stafford, Vance Brand, and Deke Slayton. Stafford had already flown
into space three times, including within eight miles of the lunar
surface, and was the first general officer to fly into space (he
was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force at the time
of the flight; he would retire with three stars in 1979). Slayton
was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts selected in 1959,
but an irregular heartbeat grounded him until 1972. He became head
of NASA's astronaut office and, after a lengthy medical program,
selected himself for this mission. At the time, Slayton was the
oldest person to fly in space and the one with the longest gap
between selection as an astronaut and first flight into space.
Brand, meanwhile, had trained with the Apollo spacecraft used for
this mission during his time as a backup Apollo 15 command module
pilot, and had served two stints as a backup Skylab commander. The
closest he came to flying prior to ASTP was as commander for the
Skylab Rescue mission mustered to potentially retrieve the crew of
Skylab 3 due to a fuel leak on that mission's Apollo CSM.The Soyuz
flew with two men: Alexey Leonov and Valeri Kubasov. Leonov became
the first man to walk in space on Voskhod 2 in 1965. Kubasov, who
flew on Soyuz 6 in 1969, ran some of the earliest space
manufacturing experiments. Both were slated to have flown on the
ill-fated Soyuz 11 in 1971 (Leonov as commander, Kubasov as the
flight engineer), but were grounded because Kubasov was suspected
to have tuberculosis. The two-man crew on the Soyuz was a result of
the modifications needed to allow the cosmonauts to wear the Sokol
pressure suit during launch, docking, and reentry.The ASTP-class
Soyuz 7K-TM spacecraft used was a variation of the post-Soyuz 11
two-man design, with the batteries replaced by solar panels
enabling "solo" flights (missions not docking to one of the Salyut
space stations). It was designed to operate, during the docking
phase, at a reduced nitrogen/oxygen pressure of 10.2 psi, allowing
easier transfers between the Apollo and Soyuz. Six ASTP-class Soyuz
spacecraft were built in total, including the one used. Before the
actual mission, two craft were launched unmanned as Kosmos
satellites. The third was launched as the manned Soyuz 16 flight as
a rehearsal in order to test the APAS docking mechanism. Another
craft was used fully fueled as a "hot backup" at the launch site
later it was disassembled. And the sixth craft was available as a
"cold" backup; it was later used on the last "solo" Soyuz flight in
1976, but with the APAS docking adapter replaced by the MKF-6
multispectral camera.Launch and mission
The historic handshake between Stafford and Leonov
U.S. President Gerald Ford speaks to the Soviet and American
crews on July 18, 1975.
The astronauts and cosmonauts assembled this commemorative
plaque in orbit as a symbol of the international cooperation.The
Soyuz and Apollo flights launched within seven-and-a-half hours of
each other on July 15, and docked on July 17. Three hours later,
the two mission commanders, Stafford and Leonov, exchanged the
first international handshake in space through the open hatch of
the Soyuz. NASA had calculated that the historic handshake would
have taken place over the British seaside resort of Bognor
Regis,[13] but a delay resulted in its occurrence being over the
town of Metz in France.[14] During the first crew exchange, the
crews were read a statement from Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev,
and received a phone call from U.S. President Gerald Ford.While the
two ships were docked, the three Americans and two Soviets
conducted joint scientific experiments, exchanged flags and gifts
(including tree seeds which were later planted in the two
countries), signed certificates, visited each other's ships, ate
together, and conversed in each other's languages. (Because of
Stafford's pronounced drawl when speaking Russian, Leonov later
joked that there were three languages spoken on the mission:
Russian, English, and "Oklahomski.") There were also docking and
redocking maneuvers, during which the two spacecraft reversed roles
and the Soyuz became the "active" ship.American scientists
developed four of the experiments performed during the mission.
Embryologist Jane Oppenheimer analyzed the effects of
weightlessness on fish eggs at various stages of
development.[15]After 44 hours together, the two ships separated,
and maneuvered to use the Apollo to create an artificial solar
eclipse to allow the crew of the Soyuz to take photographs of the
solar corona. Another brief docking was made before the ships went
their separate ways. The Soviets remained in space for five days,
and the Americans for nine, during which the Apollo crew also
conducted Earth observation experiments.Re-entry and aftermathThe
mission was considered a great success, both technically and as a
public-relations exercise for both nations. The only serious
problem was during reentry and splashdown of the Apollo craft,
during which the crew were accidentally exposed to toxic nitrogen
tetroxide fumes, caused by the reaction control system (RCS)
oxidizer venting from the spacecraft and reentering a cabin air
intake. The RCS was inadvertently left on during descent, and
highly toxic nitrogen tetroxide was sucked into the spacecraft as
it drew in outside air. Brand briefly lost consciousness, while
Stafford retrieved emergency oxygen masks, put one on Brand, and
gave one to Slayton. The three astronauts were hospitalized for two
weeks in Honolulu.[16] Brand took responsibility for the mishap;
because of high noise levels in the cabin during reentry, he
believes he was unable to hear Stafford call off one item of the
reentry checklist, the closure of two switches which would have
automatically shut off the RCS and initiated drogue parachute
deployment. These procedures were manually performed later than
usual, allowing the ingestion of the propellant fumes through the
ventilation system.[17]The ASTP was the final flight of an Apollo
spacecraft. Immediately after the launch of the Apollo spacecraft,
preparations began to convert Launch Pad 39B and the Vehicle
Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center for use by the Space
Shuttle, the United States' next manned spacecraft program. Launch
Pad 39A had already been closed after the launch of
Skylab.Spacecraft locationsThe Apollo Command Module from the
mission is on display at the California Science Center in Los
Angeles. The descent module of Soyuz 19 is on display at the RKK
Energiya museum in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast, Russia.A display at the
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. shows the docked
Apollo/Soyuz configuration with the restored Apollo Command and
Service Module used for testing prior to the mission, the back-up
Docking Module, and a model of the Soyuz spacecraft. An identical
Soyuz model is exhibited at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor
Complex. A full-size mockup of the two docked spacecraft is located
at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.
The ApolloSoyuz display in the National Air and Space
MuseumLegacyA derivative (but mechanically incompatible) docking
collar, APAS-89 was launched as part of the Kristall module of the
Soviet Mir space station. Originally intended as the docking port
for the (defunct) Buran Soviet space shuttle, the APAS-89 unit was
used for the next Russo-American docking mission, STS-71, twenty
years later as part of the ShuttleMir Program (though not before
the docking port was tested by the last APAS-equipped Soyuz, TM-16,
in 1993).The American Space Shuttle continued to use the same
APAS-89 docking hardware through the end of the Space Shuttle
program to dock to Mir and then the International Space Station,
the latter through the Pressurized Mating Adapters (PMAs).The PMAs
are equipped with the later APAS-95 adapters, which differ from the
APAS-89 adapters in that they are no longer androgynous; while
compatible with the APAS-89 docking collars, they are not capable
of acting as the "active" partner in docking.The first PMA, PMA-1,
remains in use as the interface connecting the Russian-built,
NASA-owned Zarya module to the US segment of the ISS, and so the
APAS continues in use to this day.A minor planet, 2228
Soyuz-Apollo, discovered in 1977 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai
Stepanovich Chernykh, is named after the
mission.[18]Commemorations
SoyuzApollon, Issue of 1975, USSRThe US Postal Service issued
the ApolloSoyuz commemorative stamps, honoring the United
StatesSoviet link up in space, on July 15, 1975, the day of the
launch. The remaining crew's most recent reunion was on July 16,
2010, when Leonov, Kubasov, Stafford, and Brand met at an Omega
timepiece store in New York City. All except Leonov participated in
a public roundtable that evening. Omega had produced several
watches to be used on the mission.[19]
ApolloSoyuz, Issue of 1975, USAMonumentIn the wake of the
mission, a large ApolloSoyuz monument was constructed outside TsUP
(the Soviet, later Russian space control center) in Moscow. It
consisted of a metal Earth overarched by an arc terminating in a
scale model of the joined ApolloSoyuz spacecraft. It was damaged
when a vehicle collided with it in the late 1990s[citation needed],
and was removed for repairs.Program costThe United States spent
$245 million on ApolloSoyuz, or $1 billion in 2010
inflation-adjusted dollars.[20]See also Interkosmos, a Soviet space
program from 1967 to 1994, designed to give foreign nations access
to space missions. List of spaceflight-related accidents and
incidents Spaceflight portal