KSC-108-75P-0050

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Soviet Apollo Soyuz Test Project prime crew member Valeriy Kubasov inspects equipment inside the Apollo Command Module. The Soviet and American ASTP crews were at KSC February 8-10 to tour facilities and inspect equipment in preparation for the mid-July joint mission. The first international crewed spaceflight was a joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. rendezvous and docking mission. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, or ASTP, took its name from the spacecraft employed: the American Apollo and the Soviet Soyuz. The three-man Apollo crew lifted off from Kennedy Space Center aboard a Saturn IB rocket on July 15, 1975, to link up with the Soyuz that had launched a few hours earlier. A cylindrical docking module served as an airlock between the two spacecraft for transfer of the crew members. Photo credit: NASA