Apollo Soyuz (ASTP)

The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) (Russian: Экспериментальный полёт «Аполлон» – «Союз» (ЭПАС), Eksperimentalniy polyot Apollon-Soyuz, lit. “Experimental flight Apollo-Soyuz”, commonly referred to by the Soviets as Soyuz–Apollo), conducted in July 1975, was the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight. It was a symbol of the policy of détente that the two superpowers were pursuing at the time. The ASTP involved the docking of an Apollo command and service module and the Soviet Soyuz 19 capsule. The unnumbered Apollo vehicle was left over from the canceled Apollo missions and the last Apollo command and service module to fly. This mission ceremoniously marked the end of the Space Race that had begun in 1957 with the Sputnik 1 launch.

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. The pre-flight work provided useful engineering experience for future joint US–Russian space flights, such as the Shuttle–Mir Program and the International Space Station. ASTP was the last crewed US space mission until the first Space Shuttle flight in April 1981.

~ wikipedia

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