Directly from the estate of NASA legend Chris Kraft, a 7″ x 13.5″ lithograph of the two ASTP spacecraft docked in orbit above Earth. Signed around by all five crewmembers in black felt tips: Tom Stafford, Vance Brand, Deke Slayton, Alexei Leonov, and Valeri Kubasov. Leonov has added: “To Mr. C. Kraft/ With Best Regards!/ Alexei Leonov/ 26 09. 74.”
This was the year before the mission. The project, and its memorable handshake in space, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers. It is generally considered to mark the end of the Space Race, which had begun in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik.
From Wikipedia: “Both sides had severe criticisms of the other side’s engineering. Soviet spacecraft were designed with automation in mind; the Lunokhod 1 and Luna 16 were both uncrewed probes, and each Soyuz spacecraft had been designed to minimize risk due to human error by having fewer manual controls with which human operators would have to contend during flight. By contrast, the Apollo spacecraft was designed to be operated by humans and required highly trained astronauts in order to operate. The Soviet Union criticized the Apollo spacecraft as being “extremely complex and dangerous”.
The Americans also had their own concerns about Soviet spacecraft. Christopher C. Kraft, director of the Johnson Space Center, criticized the design of the Soyuz:
“We in NASA rely on redundant components — if an instrument fails during flight, our crews switch to another in an attempt to continue the mission. Each Soyuz component, however, is designed for a specific function; if one fails, the cosmonauts land as soon as possible. The Apollo vehicle also relied on astronaut piloting to a much greater extent than did the Soyuz machine.”
American and Soviet engineers settled their differences for a possible docking of American and Soviet spacecraft in meetings between June and December 1971 in Houston and Moscow.
According to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, “The Soviet and American spacemen will go up into outer space for the first major joint scientific experiment in the history of mankind. They know that from outer space our planet looks even more beautiful. It is big enough for us to live peacefully on it, but it is too small to be threatened by nuclear war”.
Part of the Future Ventures’ 🚀 Space Collection.
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