-The Apollo mission was officially not numbered, though some sources refer to it as "Apollo 18".- The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) took place in the second half of July 1975 and entailed the docking of an American Apollo spacecraft with the Soviet Soyuz 19 spacecraft. Whilst the Soyuz was given a mission designation number as part of the ongoing Soyuz program, it was referred to simply as "Soyuz" through the duration of the joint mission. On the Soviet side, the Soyuz flew with two men: Alexey Leonov and Valery Kubasov. Leonov was the first man to walk in space in 1965 on Voskhod 2, and Kubasov had flown on Soyuz 6 in 1969. Both were slated to have flown on the ill-fated Soyuz 11 in 1971 (Leonov as commander, Kubasov as the flight engineer), but were grounded because Kubasov was suspected to have tuberculosis. The Apollo flew with a three-man crew onboard: Tom Stafford, Vance Brand and Deke Slayton. Slayton was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts selected in 1958 but had been grounded due to a heart problem. Slayton became head of NASA's astronaut office and after a lengthy medical program, selected himself for this mission. At the time, it made him both the oldest person to fly in space and the longest gap between selection as an astronaut and flight into space. Vance Brand had trained with the Apollo Spacecraft used for this mission during his time as a backup Apollo 15 command module pilot as well as multiple stints as a backup Skylab commander. The Soyuz and ...

• published: 08 Mar 2009
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• author: rufus2042