Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project| Mission Insignia | |
| Mission Statistics (Soyuz) |
|---|
| Mission Name: | Soyuz 19 |
| Call Sign: | Союз (Soyuz - "Union") |
Number of
Crew: | 2 |
| Launch: | July 15, 1975
12:20:00 UTC
Baikonur |
| Apogee: | 231 km |
| Perigee: | 218 km |
| Period: | 88.92 min |
| Inclination: | 51.76 deg |
| Landing: | July 21, 1975
10:50:00 UTC
57° N 67° E |
| Duration: | 5 d 22 h 30 min 54 s |
Number of
Orbits: | 96 |
Distance
Traveled: | ~2,400,000 mi
(~3,900,000 km) |
| Mass: | Soyuz 6,790 kg |
| Mission Statistics (Apollo) |
|---|
| Mission Name: | Apollo (No Official Mission Number Assigned) |
| Call Sign: | Apollo |
Number of
Crew: | 3 |
| Launch: | July 15, 1975
19:50:00 UTC
Kennedy Space Center
LC-39B |
| Apogee: | 231 km |
| Perigee: | 217 km |
| Period: | 88.91 min |
| Inclination: | 51.75 deg |
| Landing: | July 24, 1975
21:18:00 UTC
|
| Duration: | 9 d 1 h 28 min 24 s |
Number of
Orbits: | 148 |
Distance
Traveled: | ~3,700,000 mi
(~5,990,000 km) |
| Mass: | CSM 14,768 kg
DM 2,012 kg |
| Crew Picture |
|---|
| ASTP crew portrait (L-R: Slayton, Stafford, Brand, Leonov, Kubasov) |
ASTP crew portrait
(L-R: Slayton, Stafford, Brand, Leonov, Kubasov) |
| Mission Spacecraft |
|---|
|
|
The
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the first joint flight of the
US and
Soviet space programs. The mission took place in July 1975. For the United States of America, it was the last
Apollo flight, as well as the last manned space launch until the flight of the first
Space Shuttle in April 1981. For the
Soviet Union it was the last manned space flight until
Soyuz 21 in June 1976.
*
Thomas Stafford (flew on
Gemini 6A,
Gemini 9A,
Apollo 10, &
Apollo-Soyuz) - Apollo Commander
*
Vance Brand (flew on
Apollo-Soyuz,
STS-5,
STS-41-B, &
STS-35) - Apollo Command Module Pilot
*
Deke Slayton (flew on
Apollo-Soyuz) - Apollo Docking Module Pilot
Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the Command Module Pilot in the original ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement was removed as punishment for his involvement in the
Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal. (Swigert was not involved in the controversial Apollo 15 stamp deal, but in the investigation that followed the scandal he initially denied having any involvement in similar schemes. When evidence against him started to build up he confessed to
Deke Slayton and was consequently considered to be undesirable from a public relations viewpoint.)
Backup Crew
*
Alan Bean*
Ronald Evans*
Jack Lousma*
Alexei Leonov (2) - Soyuz 19 Commander
*
Valery Kubasov (3) - Soyuz 19 Engineer
(1) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission.Backup Crew
*
Anatoli Filipchenko*
Nikolai Rukavishnikov*
Mass: **14,768 kg (Apollo),
** 6,790 kg (Soyuz)
*
Perigee: **152 km (Apollo),
**186 km (Soyuz)
*
Apogee: **166 km (Apollo),
**220 km (Soyuz)
*
Inclination: **51.7° (Apollo),
**51.8° (Soyuz)
*
Period: **87.6 minutes (Apollo),
**88.5 minutes (Soyuz)
Docking
*
First Docking:
July 17,
1975 - 16:19:09 UTC
*
Last Undocking:
July 19,
1975 - 15:26:12 UTC
*
Time Docked: 1 day, 23 hours, 07 minutes, 03 seconds
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) took place in the second half of July 1975 and entailed the docking of an American
Apollo spacecraft with the Soviet
Soyuz 19 space craft. While the Soyuz was given a mission designation number, officially the Apollo was not given one, as it was intended to represent the entire program and its conclusion. Some histories list this Apollo flight as
Apollo 18, but per NASA this is incorrect.
The Apollo flew with the following crew on board:
Tom Stafford,
Vance Brand and
Deke Slayton. The Soyuz 19 flew with
Alexei Leonov and
Valery Kubasov.
ASTP was in part inspired by the 1968 film
Marooned, in which a stranded US Apollo crew is rescued by a Soviet spacecraft. Although the equipment developed for ASTP was only of use as a one-off, the program allowed NASA to maintain a manned space focus following the end of the Apollo and Skylab missions. As the Apollo's
Saturn IB launcher and CSM were all surplus material, ASTP was the most inexpensive manned space program ever mounted.
The Soyuz 19 and Apollo flights launched within seven-and-a-half hours of each other 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, [
1] but a delay resulted in its actual occurrence being over the town of
Metz in
France. [
2]
The two spacecraft remained linked for 44 hours, long enough for the three Americans and two Soviets to exchange flags and gifts (including tree seeds which were later planted in the two countries), sign certificates, pay visits to each other's ships, eat together and converse in each other's languages. (Because of Stafford's pronounced drawl when speaking Russian, Leonov later joked that there were actually
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. The Soviets remained in space for five days, the Americans for nine, during which the Soviets also conducted experiments in Earth observation.
|
Soyuz 19 spacecraft as seen from Apollo CM |
While docked, the two crews conducted joint scientific experiments and spent time in each others' craft. After forty-four 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 mission was a great success, both technically and as a public-relations exercise for both sides. As an aside, the Apollo-Soyuz mission was the first mission carrying a handheld programmable pocket
calculator (the
HP-65); the calculator was programmed to perform several backup computations to partly stand in for the Apollo
mission computer in case the latter should malfunction or cease to function altogether (neither of which occurred).
 |
Launch of the Saturn IB rocket carrying the Apollo Command Module into orbit. |
The only serious problem that arose was due to the Apollo crew making a mistake during their preparations for
re-entry that resulted in a very rough landing and the capsule filling with noxious fumes. The reaction control system was inadvertently left on during descent, producing uncombusted thruster propellant which was then sucked into the capsule as its pressure equalized with the outside air. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries.
This was the final flight of an Apollo spacecraft. The
Command Module is on display at
California Science Center,
Los Angeles, California.
*
Apollo-Soyuz*
The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project –
the official NASA history of the mission*
OMWorld's ASTP Docking Module Trainer & Project Introspective Pages*
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project page from NASA History Office*
International rendezvous and docking mission (Apollo-Soyuz/Salyut) 1971 - NASA report (PDF format)*
Apollo/Soyuz test project operational data book. Volume 2: ASTP mass properties data book - NASA report (PDF format)
