The origin of the Soviets concern, regarding the potential impact of the Apollo Command Modules Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters on the Soyuz spacecraft during docking maneuvers, can be trace

Soyuz 16 served as a comprehensive rehearsal for the Soviet contribution to Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP).

The American astronauts acknowledged the necessity of enhancing their Russian language proficiency. They observed that their Russian counterparts, had demonstrated a remarkable commitment to learning

For the first time, the Soviet Union publicly announced the crew assignments for a Soyuz mission before the flight. Previously, cosmonaut identities were kept secret until after their flights.

According to George Low, the Soviet mission operations control room was quite large it contained 16 two-man consoles, thus allowing them 32 flight controllers. In addition, there was a back row of c

In April of 1972, George Low returned to Washington from Moscow and briefed Henry Kissinger. He conveyed NASAs assessment that a joint space mission in 1975 was feasible.

In a re-evaluation of the proposed test mission, the Soviets concluded that utilizing the Salyut spacecraft would not be technically and economically viable.

Finally Kraft and Gilruth told the Soviets that if they were unwilling to agree to the telephone conversations then the NASA delegation might as well pack up and go back to Houston. After some hesitat

The spacecraft designers led by Caldwell Johnson faced a demanding task. Director Gilruth urged them to accelerate the development of the docking adapter design, aiming to have a functional model read

Two options were presented: Apollo docking with Salyut/Soyuz or Soyuz with Skylab/Apollo. Caldwell Johnson was taken aback by the Soviets eagerness to immediately pursue the development of a universa