Produced by NASA contractor Rockwell International, this circa 1978 film was made shortly before the successful Apollo-Soyuz space mission. It is followed by a second film SPACESHIP EARTH showing on-going work on the new Space Shuttle.
APOLLO-SOYUZ was created prior to the actual mission, and uses footage from prior Apollo missions and concept art. The film also shows the construction and assembly process for the Apollo side of the mission with Deke Slaton and crew shown. The docking module is shown at 1:52 and again at 2:43 when it was displayed at the 1973 Paris Air Show.
SPACESHIP EARTH shows the prototype Space Shuttle (or the mock-up known as Inspiration ) or Enterprise then under construction. The film uses concept art to show the entire Space Shuttle flight profile, including the use of the robot arm and ESA module.
The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) conducted in July 1975, was the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight, as a symbol of the policy of détente that the two superpowers were pursuing at the time. It involved the docking of an Apollo Command/Service Module with the Soviet Soyuz 19. The unnumbered Apollo vehicle was a surplus from the terminated Apollo program and the last one to fly. This mission ceremoniously marked the end of the Space Race that had begun in 1957 with the Sputnik launch.
The mission included both joint and separate scientific experiments (including an engineered eclipse of the Sun by Apollo to allow Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona), and provided useful engineering experience for future joint US–Russian space flights, such as the Shuttle–Mir Program and the International Space Station.
ASTP was the last manned US space mission until the first Space Shuttle flight in April 1981. It was also U.S. astronaut Donald “Deke” Slayton’s only space flight. He was chosen as one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts in April 1959, but had been grounded until 1972 for medical reasons.
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