The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project docked an American Apollo capsule with a Soviet So

Featured Event 1975 Event

Apollo Meets Soyuz: Space Rivals Dock in Orbit

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project docked an American Apollo capsule with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in orbit on July 17, 1975, creating the first physical link between the two space programs. Astronaut Tom Stafford and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov shook hands through a specially built docking module 140 miles above Earth. The mission had been negotiated during detente and required years of joint engineering to solve compatibility problems between the two spacecraft. Beyond the symbolic handshake, the crews conducted joint scientific experiments and tested rescue procedures that would prove essential decades later. The mission was the last flight of both the Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn IB rocket.

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July 15, 1975

51 years ago

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Apollo Meets Soyuz: Space Rivals Dock in Orbit

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