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

The post Space Rocket History #452 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – Full Speed Ahead first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

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

The post Space Rocket History #451 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – No More Salyut? first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

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 hesitation, the Soviets decided to try … Continue reading →

The post Space Rocket History #450 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – Round 3 with the Soviets first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

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 ready for the upcoming November meeting with the Soviets.

The post Space Rocket History #449 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – Apollo-Salyut Test Mission Planning first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

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 universal docking mechanism.

The post Space Rocket History #448 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – Soyuz/Skylab & Apollo/Salyut first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

On January 20th, 1971 in private negotiation, Low and Frutkin met with Keldysh and Feoktistov to discuss rendezvous and docking. NASA proposed developing compatible systems for Apollo and Soyuz rather than future spacecraft, aiming to give specialists something concrete on … Continue reading →

The post Space Rocket History #447 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – Creating a Partnership first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

A critical problem emerged during the separation and ignition of the third stage approximately five minutes into the flight.
A failure in the electrical system responsible for releasing the locks securing the core stage of the booster to the third stage resulted in only one side of the locks disengaging. Continue reading →

The post Space Rocket History #446 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – Tell Us All Your Secrets first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

A critical problem emerged during the separation and ignition of the third stage approximately five minutes into the flight.
A failure in the electrical system responsible for releasing the locks securing the core stage of the booster to the third stage resulted in only one side of the locks disengaging. Continue reading →

The post Space Rocket History #445 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – A Kind Invitation first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

A critical problem emerged during the separation and ignition of the third stage approximately five minutes into the flight.
A failure in the electrical system responsible for releasing the locks securing the core stage of the booster to the third stage resulted in only one side of the locks disengaging. Continue reading →

The post Space Rocket History #444 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project – Competition and Cooperation first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

A critical problem emerged during the separation and ignition of the third stage approximately five minutes into the flight.
A failure in the electrical system responsible for releasing the locks securing the core stage of the booster to the third stage resulted in only one side of the locks disengaging. Continue reading →

The post Space Rocket History #443 – Salyut 4 – The April 5th Anomaly & Soyuz 18 with Lazarev, Makarov, Klimuk, & Sevastyanov first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.

The crew of Soyuz 17 embarked on a historic 29-day mission, surpassing the previous Soviet mission-duration record of 23 days set by the Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1 in 1971.

The post Space Rocket History #442 – Salyut 4 – Soyuz 17 with Gubarev & Grechko first appeared on Space Rocket History Podcast.