Apollo-Soyuz: 50 Years Since the First Handshake in Orbit

"Nice to see you," "The pleasure is mine": this is how American astronaut Thomas Stafford and one of the veterans of Soviet space, Alexei Leonov, greeted each other 50 years ago , 222 kilometers from Earth . Each spoke the other's language , aware that they were the protagonists not only of the first handshake in orbit , but of the end of the space race that until that moment had seen the two powers they represented engaged in a fierce competition. That handshake can also be considered the foundation stone of that extraordinary edifice that is the International Space Station . On July 17, 1975, the American Apollo shuttle docked with the Soviet Soyuz 19 shuttle, and the handshake took place in the module that joined the two vehicles. Symbolic gifts were also exchanged, such as the flags of the two countries, commemorative plaques, and tree seeds. On live TV, everyone heard the Russian version of the song "Hello Darlin'," which Apollo commander Stafford had asked the composer to record for the cosmonauts. Three years after the last mission to the Moon, that handshake in orbit fulfilled the agreement signed on May 24, 1972, by American President Richard Nixon and Soviet President Alexei Kosygin . The docking of the two shuttles, which cost NASA $250 million, was intended as an in-orbit rescue test, in preparation for future missions.

That meeting also provided an opportunity for a technological exchange : during the three years of preparation for the " Apollo-Soyuz Test Program ," as the Americans called the mission, or the " Soyuz-Apollo Experimental Flight ," as the Soviets called it, at the height of the Cold War , the Russians had the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with in-orbit docking techniques , while for the Americans it was an opportunity to study the progress of the Soviet space programs . Despite some difficulties, the American and Soviet teams managed to prepare for the mission on schedule, and on July 15, 1975 , after 12:00 p.m., the Soyuz took off from the Baikonur base , painted bright green. On board were cosmonauts Leonov, who had been the protagonist of the first spacewalk in 1965, and Valery Kubasov. Eight hours later , the Saturn 1-b rocket carrying the Apollo capsule lifted off from the American base at Cape Canaveral . Commander Stafford and astronauts Vance Brand and Donald Slayton were on board. The Soyuz, which played a passive role in the maneuver, awaited the arrival of Apollo. Twenty years later, that event was commemorated with the docking of the shuttle Atlantis with the Russian space station Mir , but in a very different scenario . If in 1975 the impetus had been political, by 1995 the two space agencies were beginning to suffer from financial difficulties. Not to mention that after the shuttle's demise , the Soyuz remained for a long time the only vehicle with which American astronauts could reach space. Thus was born the long collaboration that led to the creation of the International Space Station , in which the segment containing the Russian modules is docked with those of the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Today, the ISS is the only place where collaboration between the United States and Russia is continuing.