Valeri Kubasov, born January 7, 1935 in the former Soviet Union, was a veteran of three space flights. He spent over 18 days in space.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz 6 with fellow cosmonaut Georgy Shonin. They conducted the first welding experiments in space but planned docking and rendezvous maneuvers with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 failed.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz 19 with Alexey Leonov in July 1975. They docked with NASA's Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, a joint project between NASA and the Soviet space program.
Kuvasov's third and final mission was aboard Soyuz 36 as commander to the Salyut 6 space station in May 1980. He returned to Earth in June.
He passed away of natural causes in February 2014.
On what would be the last mission of NASA's Apollo program, "Apollo 18" (the unofficial designation) was launched July 15, 1975 for the first joint space mission between the United States and the Soviet Union. Its crew consisted of Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald "Deke" Slayton.
On the other side of the world, Soyuz 19 launched with cosmonauts Alexey Leonov and Valeri Kubasov the same day. The mission was called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
When the ships docked, the crews exchanged the first international handshake in space. They also conducted experiments, exchanged flags and gifts, ate together and signed certificates. After 44 hours together, the ships separated and went their separate ways.
The cosmonauts stayed in space for two more days, returning to Earth July 21. The astronauts stayed five extra days and returned to Earth July 24.
In the early 1970's while tensions between Washington, DC and the Kremlin ran high, a small group of scientists from both country worked toward a collusion...er, a collaboration....perhaps a joint space mission(?) for the space programs of both countries could meet in space.
A cooperative mission was first proposed by NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine and the Soviet Academy of Sciences president Mstislav Keldysh accepted. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) was not universally considered a good idea, with many Americans feeling the ASTP would give the USSR to much access and help them get a step up.
The crew of the Apollo spacecraft was Commander Thomas P. Stafford (from Oklahoma!), Command Module Pilot Vance D. Brand (Colorado) and Docking Module Pilot Donald K. (Deke) Slayton (Wisconsin). The Soyuz 19 crew consisted of Commander Alexey Leonov and Flight Engineer Valeri Kubasov.
Both spacecraft launched July 15, 1975 within hours of each other and docked on July 17. The historic handshake between American and Soviet crews too place over Metz, France. The astronauts and cosmonauts spoke in each other's languages, but because Stafford had a pronounced drawl when speaking Russian, Leonov joed that the languages spoken during the mission were Russian, English and "Oklahomski."
The ships separated after 44 hours and went their separate ways. The Soviets stayed in space for five days while the Americans remained for nine. Soyuz 19 returned to Earth on July 21. Apollo returned on July 24, an error occured and the crew was exposed to toxic nitrogen tetroxide fumes. Brand lost consciousness but Stafford managed to get emergency oxygen masks on him and Brand and gave one to Slayton. They were hospitalized for two weeks in Oahu (!) but made full recoveries.
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov, born May 30, 1934, became the first human to step out of a capsule and take an extra-vehicular activity (EVA), walking in space. His historic event was scheduled to take place on Voskhod 1, but that was cancelled and rescheduled on Voskhod 2. Everything (almost) went as planned during the Voskhod 2 mission.
Leonov stepped through the hatch and spent the next 12 minutes in space. However, when he tried to re-enter the capsule, his spacesuit had ballooned so much from the air pressure inside, Leonov could not get through the hatchway. He had to vent some of the pressure so his suit would fit.
He was selected to be the first Russian man to step onto the moon, but that project was scrapped along with many other programs, due to failures, design problems or budget restraints. Leonov's second and last spaceflight was aboard Soyuz 19 as the commander of the Russian half of the historic meeting between the U.S. and Soviet Union, the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.
