APOLLO SOYUZ 1975

APOLLO SOYUZ MISSION SUMMARY

CRAFT CREW ORBITS DURATION
SOYUZ 19 Leonov, Kubasov 96 6 days
APOLLO 18 Stafford, Slayton, Brand 138 9 days

The goal for the joint Apollo Soyuz mission was largely symbolic, showing that the cold war super powers could work together.

Alexei Leonov of the Soyuz 19 crew was the first man to perform a space walk (EVA) ten years earlier in Voskhod 2. While the Apollo 18 crew featured Thomas Stafford from Gemini 6, 9 and Apollo 10 missions.

Apollo 18 was launched using the last remaining Saturn 1B rocket left over from the Skylab and Apollo programs. For America it was the last manned space flight until the Space shuttle launch in 1981.

After two days, Soyuz 19 undocked and positioned itself between Apollo 18 and the Sun allowing the Americans to study the Sun's corona.

After two further days in space, Apollo 18 returned to Earth. During the decent an error in the handling of the thrusters resulted in a poisonous gas leak that rendered Brand unconscious and blistering the crew's lungs.