INTFRN \I ION \l. S( !! NTIFIC < OOPERATION, : 



423 



several years. The editorial discusses the upcoming joint United States-U.S.S.R. 

 orbital space docking o( an Apollo capsule and a Soyuz capsule. 



The NASA team has devoted many long months of work to the success of this 

 project and I am very optimistic that they will maintain then- perfect record. The 

 only question in my mind is the definition o! "success" in this endeavor. It is intended 

 an exchange of scientific and technological knowledge. It seems chat at this 

 time the editorialist is correct when he writes: " The U.S. -Soviet test project promises 

 no technological benefit to this countr) 



The very simple reason that the statement is true is due to the Soviet's shroud of 

 secrecy around their space program. Although there is little hope that their policy 

 will change, I continue to pray that it will change 



Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford joins Cosmonaut Alexei A. Leonov at the hatchway 

 between the Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts. 



APOLLO-SOYUZ A SUCCESS 1975 



Editorials and letters continued to attack the project throughout 

 19~4. The Los Angeles Times dubbed ASTP the "wheat deal in the 

 sky." A writer from Stamford, Conn., wrote President Nixon that 

 when he couldn't get the gas to go to work, he couldn't see "spending 

 millions of dollars — not to mention energy — for one lousy inter- 

 planetary handshake between some little-league Hop Harrigan and 

 his Russian counterpart. * * * If you think you've got troubles with 

 Watergate, wait till the American people — your silent majority -wise 

 up to this little boondoggle." 



As planned, the Apollo-Soyuz mission was successfully flown on 

 July 15, 1975- What started out essentially as an answer to the need 

 for some kind of an international rescue system successfully developed 



