From Yuri Gagarin to Apollo-Soyuz

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H-Diplo National Security Archive: U.S.-Soviet Cooperation in Outer Space: From Yuri Gagarin to Apollo-Soyuz Discussion published by Malcolm Byrne on Monday, April 12, 2021 Cold War Rivals Joined Forces after Historic Gagarin Flight in 1961 to Pursue Broader Shared Interests, Documents Show Current Collaboration on International Space Station Has Its Roots in JFK- Khrushchev Meeting of Minds Edited by Sarah Dunn Washington, D.C., April 12, 2021 – Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s historic spaceflight 60 years ago, which made him the first human in space, prompted President John F. Kennedy to advance an unusual proposal – that the two superpowers combine forces to cooperate in space. In a congratulatory letter to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, posted today by the nongovernmental National Security Archive, Kennedy expressed the hope that “our nations [can] work together” in the “continuing quest for knowledge of outer space.” Kennedy’s letter is one of many records in the American and Russian archives that show that the two ideological rivals have not only engaged in a space race but have also cooperated for decades. In fact, as the ongoing joint activities involving the International Space Station demonstrate, space has been one of the few spheres of collaboration that have survived the trials and tensions of the Cold War, keeping both countries engaged in constructive competition as well as in joint efforts to expand human frontiers. Today’s posting begins a two-part series exploring this often-overlooked chapter in the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, and later Russia. The materials in the first tranche cover events from Gagarin’s flight to the celebrated Apollo-Soyuz mission. The second posting in early May will deal with the post-Cold War period. Citation: Malcolm Byrne. National Security Archive: U.S.-Soviet Cooperation in Outer Space: From Yuri Gagarin to Apollo-Soyuz. H- Diplo. 04-12-2021. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/7560976/national-security-archive-us-soviet-cooperation-outer-space-yuri Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1.

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''' 111''' '""'"'""'"!! !! "" '11111 111 111 1111m1111111111 11m 111 111 1u1111 DOCID· 3838702 Spacecraft Passenger Television from Laika to Gagarin F .L. % - Jf With lhe launch of a five· ton earth sat(!/lite on 15 May 1960 it became apparent that the Souiet Union had tr.e capabiEty to put a man into ballistic {light around the u;orld. The U.S. government needed a rel~ able method to seme attempts at orbitiTiR a human passen,ger. This is the .vtory of the race to provide this ca pability through. the exploitation of a unique SIG/NT source that had been reveakd anly manlhs before Major Yuri Gagarin's f!iRht on 12 .4pril 1961. At 0600 hoUis GMT on 12 Ap.r il 1961 a five.ton payload was boosted from its launch platform in Kazakhstan-signalling man's entry into the world of space travel. VOST OK l W&.j on it.£ way to an injection into a 200.mile·apogee earth orbit with Major Yuri Al exseyevic.h Gagarin of the Russian Air Force as its passenger. In a few minut.es. and while the orbiting spacecraft was still over Siberia, Gaixarin's stoic features would ti sh on I v' · Jn the ~pace of a quart.er hour, and as the five . ._,to_n_s_p-ace-c-ra""f,...t-co_n_,t~in-u~ed on its histori c one-revolution flight to a suc cessful de.orbit maneuver and reentrv in Cent.ral Asia, the White House would be apprised of this very firm e.vidence t.hat.
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