APOLLO-SOYUZ

Artists drawing of Apollo-Soyuz docking.

Introduction:

The Apollo-Soyuz Project was the first multi-national spaceflight in history. In the past, the United States and Russia were trying to outdo one another in space. They would have never thought of a joint mission. This was going to be a new frontier for both countries. The Russians were going to launch Soyuz 19 from Russia and one day later, the Amercans were to launch Apollo XVIII and the two ships were to meet in space.

Apollo 18:

Apollo 18 (AS-210)

Flight Information:

The commander of Apollo 18 was Brig-Gen Thomas Patten Stafford Jr., age 44, he was also in the USAF (United States Air Force). Abroad with him, are two other pilots. The command Module pilot, Vance DeVoe Brand, age 44, and the docking module pilot, Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton, age 51.

This mission will be the 71st astro-flight (58th space flight, 55th Earth orbit), that will be lunched on July 15, 1975. The Saturn 1B(SA-210) lunch vehicle will be on pad 39B (at Kennedy Space Centre, Merritt Island, USA), waiting for the OK to lift-off from Mission Control.

The duration for this mission was 9 days 1 hour and 28 minutes, the type of flight that they were performing is Earth orbit, rendezvous and docking, the spacecraft that the astronauts are in, weights about 32,563 pounds, and the Saturn 1B weights over 6,000,000 pounds (WOW that’s big!).

Soyuz 19:

Soyuz 19

Flight Information: The commander of Soyuz 19 was Col Alexei Archipovich Leonov, age 41, he was also in the SAF (Soviet Air Force). Aboard with him, was the flight engineer, Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov, age 40.

This mission will be the 70th astro-flight (57th space flight, 54th Earth orbit), that will be lunched on July 15, 1975. The A2 (SL-4) lunch vehicle will be on Tyuratam, USSR, waiting for the Okay to lift-off from Mission Control.

The duration for this mission was 5 days 22 hour and 31 minutes, the type of flight that they were performing is Earth orbit, rendezvous and docking, the spacecraft that the cosmonauts were in, weights about 14,729 pounds.

Mission Summary:

After three years of hard work by the American and Russian space centers, of the development of a compatible docking adapter, the two teams were ready in time for the set launch date of July 15, 1975.

The Soviet Union got the mission started right away. With the launch of Soyuz 19 at 3:20 PM (Moscow time). The launch of the Soyuz 19 was shown live across the world (this was the first time that the Russians shown a live launch of the Russian manned program). Almost ten thousand miles always, on Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Apollo XVIII lift-off 7 1/2 hours later.

The first step of the docking sequence was for the American spacecraft to turn around and extract the docking module from the S-IVB stage. The docking module was an air lock, it was 10 feet long and about 3 1/2 feet in diameter. The docking module was designed to dock with the Soyuz 19 and the Apollo arrangement. The Soviets and the US docking systems each consisted of an extendable guide ring with three petal-like plates at its parameter, each plate having a capture latch inside it. Once the latches were engaged, the active vehicle retracted its guide ring, pulling the craft together. Meanwhile the Soyuz crew was having trouble with their television system.

After many complicated docking maneuvers (at ASTP ground elapsed time or GET, of T+51 hours 49 minutes), the Soyuz 19 docked with Apollo XVIII over the Atlantic on Apollo’s 29th orbit and Soyuz’s 36th orbits around the Earth.

The exchanges between the crews were more historical then memorable. "Real fine, initiating orientation maneuver," Leonov had said in English. "Soyuz is very beautiful," said the Russian speaking Stafford. "Contact, capture" (Leonov). "We also have capture. We have succeeded, everything is excellent" (Stafford). "Soyuz and Apollo are shaking hands now" (Leonov).

During the two days of joint operations, which included live television, talks with the US President Gerald Ford, and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, and ceremonial events such as the signing of documents, each astronaut and cosmonauts also had a chance to visit each others spacecraft. The crews also conducted a number of experiments, including a solar eclipse simulation, and a redocking exercise.

Then the spacecraft separated and continued alone, Soyuz 19 landed after 96 orbits at 142 hours 32 minutes GET. At the end of the Apollo’s 138th orbit, the crew came home. The docking mission was a success, but disaster struck the American crew when they were descending towards a recovery ship (USS New Orleans in the Pacific Ocean 270 miles west of Hawaii.

With communication difficulties, Brand was distracted and he had forgot to operate the two Earth landing system switches, that would deploy the parachutes and shut down the thrusters. When the parachute did not open, Brand manually commanded the chutes to deploy. The constant swinging of the spacecraft caused the still-armed thrusters to fire to correct the oscillations. Stafford noticed this problem, and shut them down, but by cutting off the thrusters’ nitrogen tetroxide propellant, it was boiling up and the gas was entering the cabin via a pressure-relief valve. When this happened, a very poisonous gas entered the capsule. The astronauts were starting to choke and cough. The command module then hit the water like a ton of bricks, as Stafford describe the fall. Stafford grabbed the oxygen masks from a locker, but by the time he reach Brand, he was unconscious. None of the astronauts were killed but the fast-acting gas had turned their lungs white and blistered. All recovered with time and medical treatment.

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