Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Facts

Fun Facts about the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

  1. Soyuz is the Russian word for “union”.

  2. Between April 4-6, 1972, the United States and the USSR agreed upon a 17-point “Summary of Results” which outlined specific pre-launch and operation protocols that each space organization would follow during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). This paved the way for U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier A.N. Kosygin to sign the “Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes" on May 24, 1972.

  3. The United States spent $245 million (about $1,178,333,333 in current dollars) on the American side of the Apollo Soyuz Test Project.

  4. The official emblem of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project depicts the American Apollo and the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft docked together in Earth orbit with the words Apollo in English and the Soyuz in Russian.

  5. The U.S. referred to this mission as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, while the Soviets referred to it as the Soyuz Apollo Test Project.

  6. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was a “one-flight” mission.

  7. The U.S. spacecraft employed a pure oxygen atmosphere, while the Soviet spacecraft used a high-pressure oxygen and nitrogen mixture. A transfer facility was designed to allow both astronauts and cosmonauts to become acclimated to each other’s atmosphere.

  8. The ASTP astronauts and cosmonauts conducted twenty-eight separate scientific experiments during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, five of which were joint U.S.-USSR research. Some examples of these include “Extreme Ultraviolet Survey,” “Doppler Tracking,” “Zero-g Processing of Magnets,” and “Zone-forming Fungi”.

  9. The ASTP mission lasted a total of 09 days, 07 hours, and 28 minutes for the Apollo spacecraft and crew. The Apollo remained in orbit for three additional days after the return of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.

  10. The international rendezvous and docking mission of the ASTP was the final flight for the hardware of both the Apollo and the Saturn IB launch vehicle.