Soyuz-Apollo - Second Meeting Over Elba. Can We Do It Again?
Yes, fifty years ago, thirty years after the first historical meeting on the Elbe River in 1945, an equally epochal meeting took place above the Elbe. And once again, Russians and Americans extended their hands to shake, although the countries were practically looking at each other through their gun sights.
Today, in the age of absolutely unpunished information, you can find so much "truth" about that flight (especially in the performance of scoundrels of history like Konstantin Kalinin), that sometimes it becomes disgusting to the point of surprise. Therefore, today there will be no conspiracy theories pulled out of the corners of the clouded subconscious; when writing, the basis was simply the magnificent book by Alexei Leonov "Solar Wind" and a little information from NASA.
Do you know how it all started?
You'll laugh, but from the book. Former pilot (and a good one, according to information) Martin Caidin wrote the novel "Lost" in 1964 with a very interesting plot: American astronaut Richard Pruett finds himself in orbit in a practically hopeless situation: his ship has run out of oxygen. All hope is on the Soviet spacecraft "Vostok" and its pilot Andrei Yakovlev. They are urgently sent to help the American, and the rescue procedure was very daring even for those times: Yakovlev had to grab Pruett in open space and drag him into the "Vostok". "Vostok", as we remember, was a single-seater, so Pruett had to somehow sit there until the Americans put their "Gemini" into orbit and take the astronaut back to Earth.
Three years later, the book was translated into Russian and published here under the title "Captive of the Orbit." Considering that, according to the plot, for once, the Russians did not play the role of the world's Evil, it was translated and published several times. The book became popular with both schoolchildren and adults.
Meanwhile, the Americans made a film of the same name, which won several Oscars.
The preface to our publication was written by cosmonaut No. 2 German Titov. Apparently, he was one of those who used the story as an excuse to once again raise the issue of peaceful coexistence not only on Earth but also in space. The idea also captured the attention of NASA Deputy Director (later Director) Thomas Paine, and he decided to convey it to the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences Mstislav Keldysh.
The correspondence that began led to an unexpected result: on October 26-27, 1970, the first working meeting of Soviet and American specialists took place in Moscow. The discussion focused on the question of how to combine the means of rendezvous and docking in space used by the two superpowers. This meeting marked the beginning of the Soyuz-Apollo project.
EPAS – “Experimental program “Apollo-Soyuz”
Two years passed, two years of very intense work, but in the end the parties were able to agree on all the nuances of the project. And on April 6, 1972, an agreement was signed between the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the American NASA on the Soyuz-Apollo program. And a month and a half later, on May 24, American President Richard Nixon, during his visit to Moscow, signed together with Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin "Agreement between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America on Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes".
The third point of this document stipulated that the first joint flight within the framework of this cooperation would take place in 1975.
US President Richard Nixon (seated left) and USSR Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin (seated right) sign an agreement to launch the Apollo-Soyuz mission, May 24, 1972
But paperwork is only half the battle. The joint project was taking shape, but against the backdrop of both countries coming to grips in a serious space confrontation. It was advantageous for each side to demonstrate something beyond the program, but the general relaxation of tension in the world really required something like that, something joint.
And the program, which was officially called EPAS – “Experimental program “Apollo-Soyuz”, allowed this to be done, although there was a lot of ideology there. Diplomats who had to become scientists and scientists who became diplomats coordinated every moment of EPAS, while the cosmonauts and astronauts began their preparations.
Valery Kubasov and Alexei Leonov study English at the Cosmonaut Training Center, 1974
When politicians and diplomats reached an agreement, it was time for scientists to rack their brains
And then the real hellish heat began, since the Soviet and American ships differed greatly in their docking methods, their propulsion equipment, and even their atmospheric composition. The latter was more than relevant, since the Soviet synthetics from which the spacesuits were made became flammable in the oxygen atmosphere of Apollo.
And the docking systems of the spaceships of the two countries were not compatible with each other, and in the event of a disaster, the only option left was to resort to evacuation through open space, as described in the story. The designers sat down to develop docking units that could, if necessary, be quickly installed on other ships that could be used in the rescue operation.
In terms of size and weight, the Soyuz is lighter, thinner and smaller than the Apollo. We must not forget that the Soyuz is an orbital carrier that weighed 6,5-6,8 tons, and the Apollo had a maximum mass of 28 tons, but this was in the lunar version; for near-Earth missions, the fuel tanks were not completely filled and the apparatus weighed less.
Both Apollo and Soyuz had cruise engines to correct orbits and attitude control engines to change the ship's position in space and perform precise docking maneuvers.
For some reason, the Soyuz designers chose a less than ideal configuration, with the cruise engine running on one fuel (heptyl and nitrogen tetroxide), and the docking and orientation engines running on another (hydrogen peroxide). Combined with the fact that the Soyuz tanks held 500 kg of fuel, while the Apollo held 18 tons, this meant that even the under-fueled Apollo was a more obvious candidate for an active role during rendezvous and docking.
But precisely because the "active-passive" role was ideologically important, the program was designed so that each of the ships played both roles during the docking. That is, there were two dockings.
In fact, the Androgynous Peripheral Docking Apparatus (APAS) allows either of the two ships to take an active role during this operation. Which is understandable, considering that the system was created, among other things, for rescue operations.
Soyuz 19 crew members Alexei Leonov (left) and Valery Kubasov before boarding the spacecraft, July 15, 1975, Baikonur
APAS was created here, in OKB-1 (now the Design Bureau of the Energia Concern in Korolev, Moscow Region) and built in two copies. When the docking unit was ready, one half remained in the Soviet Union and replaced the standard docking equipment on the Soyuz-19 spacecraft, and the other went overseas and became part of the equipment of the American Apollo. Both parts were structurally completely identical.
Apollo crew members board a van to travel to the launch pad on July 15, 1975. In front is crew commander Thomas Stafford, followed by Vance Brand and Donald Slayton.
The ships differed somewhat from their counterparts in terms of design: Soyuz-19 featured a new docking module, as well as solar panels, which "previous Soyuz" did not have. Apollo featured a special transfer compartment, which was intended for connection with the Soviet spacecraft.
The need to develop this unit was dictated by the above-mentioned problem of different atmospheres. On the Soyuz, its composition and pressure were close to that of the Earth, while on the Apollo they breathed pure oxygen under a pressure of one-third of the atmospheric pressure. All the life support systems of the ships were adjusted to these parameters, so it was impossible to simply take and connect the Soyuz and Apollo: the automatic life support systems would simply fail.
The Americans designed a transfer compartment in which cosmonauts and astronauts spent three hours before they could be released into the "alien" atmosphere and installed it on the Apollo.
View from the Soyuz-19 spacecraft of the American Apollo. On the front part of the spacecraft is the transfer compartment with the petals of the APAS docking system clearly visible on the left
And on the Soviet side, they were solving the problem of spacesuits, which in the oxygen atmosphere of Apollo could catch fire for practically no reason. They had to develop a new fabric, which, by the way, surpassed all world analogues. And at the same time, the crew of Soyuz-19 in the photo is very easy to distinguish from all other Soviet crews precisely because their spacesuits are so different from the rest.
The crews of the Soyuz 19 and Apollo spacecraft that participated in the first international docking. From left to right: Donald Slayton, Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov
On July 15, 1975, at 15.20:19 Moscow time, Soyuz-XNUMX was launched from Baikonur
Commander Alexei Leonov and flight engineer Valery Kubasov set off on their second flights into orbit. Seven hours later, Apollo lifted off from Canaveral.
Its crew was more diverse: command module pilot Vance Brand and docking module pilot Donald Slayton were flying for the first time, but commander Thomas Stafford was flying for the fourth time and his experience, in theory, should have been enough to resolve any situation that might arise.
The first docking took place more than two days later – at seven o’clock in the evening Moscow time on July 17, 1975. The American ship was “active”, the Soviet one was “passive”.
Three hours after docking, having mixed the atmospheres and equalized the pressure, representatives of the two largest space powers – Alexei Leonov and Thomas Stafford – shook hands in orbit for the first time in human history.
The first Soviet-American handshake in space. On the right is Thomas Stafford exiting the transfer module, on the left is Alexei Leonov meeting him on board Soyuz 19. Still from a live television broadcast from orbit, July 17, 1975
And here a small discrepancy arose: according to the flight managers’ plan, this was supposed to happen at the moment when the docked ships would fly over Moscow. But small time deviations meant that Moscow was left far behind, and according to Alexei Leonov’s recollections, he shook the hand of his American colleague at the moment when the ships were over the Elbe.
In general, it turned out even better - three decades ago, down there, Soviet and American soldiers shook hands in exactly the same way, defeating one common enemy.
Astronauts Thomas Stafford (left) and Donald Slayton hold Alexei Leonov's joke gift - tubes of "vodka" that turned out to contain borscht from the Soviet cosmonauts' food supply. It wasn't difficult for an artist like Leonov to skillfully draw a new label for the tubes, but the effect was...
Astronaut Donald K. Slayton and cosmonaut Alexei A. Leonov in the Soyuz orbital module
Having spent 46 hours and 36 minutes in the docked state, having carried out a small experimental program, the ships went their separate ways. Apollo played the role of a celestial body for the Soyuz crew, arranging a solar eclipse, then another docking was carried out, in which the role of the "active" ship was played by Soyuz. It was necessary to check that APAS works in both directions. Three hours later, the ships finally undocked and went their separate ways. On July 21, Soyuz returned to Earth, and on the 24th, Apollo splashed down.
Cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov after the landing of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft, July 21, 1975
Two very different ships from two countries with completely different structures and ideologies at one moment became an example of common work, and this work had much more meaning than just a new achievement in the space industry.
The next time the Russians and Americans met was in a completely different project: another 20 years later, the ISS project began.
Now, 50 years later, many in Russia are making fun of various theories, even to the point that the docking never happened, and the live broadcast of this event to the whole world is the same fake as the American landing on the moon.
But we belong to a different part of the population of this planet, and the processes of moral degradation are alien to us. Therefore, our history is first and foremost our history, and keeping it pure and intact is also a task for normal people. And so far we have more or less everything in order with this.
On August 5, 2021, in the quiet city of Kaluga, on the territory of the K.E. Tsiolkovsky Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, a memorial sign "Handshake in Space" created by sculptor Igor Burganov was unveiled.
An interesting sign, it is double, like two components: ours and American. But from whatever side you look, you will see hands reaching out for a handshake.
"Handshake in Space"
In issue No. 2 of the Living History magazine in 2015, the memoirs of four participants in that flight, made between 1975 and 2000, were published.
Alas, by that time the seventh US astronaut and (what is perhaps more valuable for us) the B-25 combat pilot who fought in the European theater of war against Germany since 1943, Donald Slayton, had already left the ranks forever.
Therefore, only the memories of the remaining four, of whom only Vance DeVoe Brand remains by our anniversary, who at 94 years old is the last one who was a participant in those events.
Valery Kubasov, Alexey Leonov, Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand (from left to right)
Thomas Stafford (1975): “During the preparation for the flight, we did more than just get to know each other well. We became closer as human beings. Isn’t this proof that our two nations can live in peace, build relationships based on mutual understanding and cooperation? In this sense, the importance of the Apollo-Soyuz experiment goes beyond the space odyssey: a model of cooperation between our countries is being born... Yesterday, when I opened the hatch for the first time and said “hello” to Valery and Alexei, I thought that by opening hatches in space, we are opening a new era in the history of mankind. I am sure that this era has a good future.”
Thomas Stafford (2000): “25 years ago, of course, I dreamed of the time when cosmonauts and astronauts would work together. Fortunately, we have now seen that our efforts were not in vain. The joint work on the creation of the International Space Station is a brilliant confirmation of this. Now I can make bolder predictions: I am convinced that we will be together throughout the XNUMXst century, and this is very true, because only together can we explore space. I am happy that over the years I have made many friends in Russia, but the first among them have always been and will be Alexey and Valery - after all, we were brought together by flight, and what could be more reliable and beautiful than friendship born in space?!”
Vance Brand (1975): “Russian hospitality is well known. But I did not expect that my comrades would take full advantage of it. So Tom and Deke went to the Soyuz, and I remained in the Apollo. But for some reason Stafford and Slayton stayed in the Soviet ship longer than planned. I heard laughter, conversations. Russian phrases alternated with English. I was already beginning to worry: what if my comrades spend the night there? The time allotted for sleep by the program had long passed, and Stafford and Slayton still had not returned from the Soyuz. Then I said that I was going to bed and would not wait for them. Perhaps this is what made Tom and Deke return. But when I myself went to the Soyuz, I also wanted to stay longer - Alexei and Valery greeted us very hospitably.”
Valery Kubasov (1975): “Our flight is of great importance not only for easing international tensions, but also for the safety of space flights and for science. We conducted several very interesting experiments during this flight, but I would like to highlight the “universal furnace”. The samples we brought back from space are being studied at institutes. Final conclusions can be made a little later, but it is already clear that space metallurgy was born after our flight. In orbit, it is possible to create new, unusual materials that are needed by various industries, primarily electronics. Moreover, their production in space is much more efficient than in terrestrial conditions. Now I can confidently predict a rapid rise of extraterrestrial metallurgical technology.”
Alexey Leonov (2000): “The relations between our countries have developed in different ways over the past quarter of a century. There have been coolings in relations, but not once – I emphasize, not once – did any of the participants in the Apollo-Soyuz program say a single unkind word about the other side. Moreover, we have always maintained the warmest relations, met both in America and here, and tried to preserve and develop the traditions born during the years of the Apollo-Soyuz project. Tom Stafford is one of those people who supported our participation in the International Space Station program. There was a time when the US Congress harshly criticized Russia for not meeting the deadlines for creating modules for the ISS, but General Stafford was always objective and benevolent: he supported us, fully understanding the difficult economic situation we were in... So the contribution of the Apollo-Soyuz program participants to the International Space Station is very large!”
Painting by A.A. Leonov "Soyuz-Apollo"
Caricature by Alexei Leonov at the moment of the ships docking
In America, one of the journalists asked Alexei Leonov: "Aren't space programs too expensive?" Leonov's answer was simply magnificent: “If the Spanish queen had once spared the money for Columbus’s flight across the ocean, we would not be meeting in this room now.”Our cosmonaut misspoke a little, but in terms of the complexity of those times, Columbus's journey can be compared to space flights, that's indisputable.
A unique and epochal event of those years, unfortunately, due to my age I would not be able to fully appreciate it, but: a very vivid example of how neither politics nor finances can interfere with the implementation of purely human projects.
What did the Soyuz cosmonauts and Apollo astronauts do?
They found each other in space, docked and shook hands in front of the whole world, there, in the void. Experiments, projects, joint work – all this will be very powerful later. And half a century ago, two countries spent astronomical sums just to show the whole world that they can look at each other not only through sights and radar grids. And for this, space engineers and workers of both countries worked tirelessly.
For many, the unique meeting in orbit became a completely new stage in the exploration of outer space and relations between the two countries. Alas, the détente gave way to a new round of tension in relations between the two superpowers, and then the Soviet Union disappeared from the world map…
The next time unique equipment for docking spacecraft from different countries was needed was twenty years after the Soyuz-Apollo mission. But it was needed!
It turns out that if there had not been this docking, who even knows how the fate of the ISS would have turned out.
Certificate of the first international docking in space, signed by all participants of the Soyuz-Apollo flight
In general, it would be very nice to witness another such event in this life. For a Russian and an American to be in the same business again, no matter, military, astronauts, rescuers, builders, it really is not that important. The main thing is that it would be like 50 years ago, in the cosmic void above a small blue ball somewhere on the outskirts of a huge cosmic world.
Meetings over the Elbe are only for the best. Do you think we can repeat it?
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