A Handshake Above the Cold War

The handshake was easy to understand even for people who knew nothing about spacecraft. On July 17, 1975, American commander Thomas Stafford and Soviet commander Alexei Leonov greeted one another through the passage joining their vehicles. The two countries had spent years measuring space achievements against each other. Now their crews were meeting in orbit, and the image seemed to turn the Cold War’s familiar script briefly inside out.

The encounter followed years of preparation, including a 1972 agreement on cooperation in space. Apollo and Soyuz were not matching vehicles that could simply pull alongside and open their doors. They had different docking arrangements and different cabin atmospheres. Their operators had developed procedures separately and worked in different languages. A ceremonial meeting required a substantial technical project before it could produce a single photograph.