DOCUMENT RESUME 1 ED 111 660 . SE 019 603 TITLE NASA Report to Educators, Volume 3, Number 2, June 1975. INSTITUTION National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C; REPORT NO NASA-451 . PUB DATE Jun 75 NOTE 13p. / ' EDRS PRICE MF-$0.76 HC-$1.^58 Plus Postage DESCRIPTORS *Aerospace Education; Flight Training; History; Science Education; Science Materials; *Space; *Space Sciences . IDENTIFIERS NASA; National Aeronautics and Space Adminis÷ration; United States; USSR ABSTRACT In this document, a historical development of the spacel.exploration activities, of the United States and of the Soviet Union is provided. In particular, communications leading to the cooperative space agreement developed in 1972 are described. The article describes in detail the flight plan for the Apollo-Soyuz space flight. (CP) ', 1 ********************************************************************** * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * *materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort* *to obtain the best copy available. nevertheless, items of,marginal * *reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * *of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * *via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not ** *responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions* *supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * *************4!********************************************************* I 4r U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION A WELFAIZ: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EOUCAT ION THIS DOCUMENT HA'S tfEEN REPRO OUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DG NOT NECESSARILY REPRE SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY report to educators ,. discovery knowledge benefits Vol.3, No. 2 June 1975 RENDEZVOUS IN SPACE: APOLLO-SOYUZ by F. Dennis Williams Public Affairs Officer, Office of International Affairs, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Revised and updated from a manuscript written by Gerald R. Kovacs, Department of History. Indiana University. As many Americans awaken on July 15, Soviet tech- nicians will be completing an afternoon countdown for a Soyuz rocket booster to be launched from the Bay- konur complex near Tyuratam in Central Asia, some 2,000 miles southeast of Moscow. Meanwhile, NASA technicians at Kennedy Space Cen- ter will clear the area around an Apollo launch pad and begin loading liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the 224-foot Saturn i6. Seven and a half hours after Soyuz has begun its journey around the Earth, at 3:50 p.m. EDT, Apollo. will roar over the Atlantic Ocean in pursuit. The dual launch of Apollo and Soyuz, beginning the only three months. During this period, its radio beep first manned spaceflight to be conducted jointly by the and movements revealed information about the density United States and the Soviet, Union, is the result of of the upper atmosphere, temperatures experienced in years of negotiating, careful planning, and extensive the new environment, and the effectiveness of radio a-testing. The flight itself, though it symbolizes a new era transmission from space. in U.S.-Soviet relations, is only the last in a series of But the dawn of the space age had a tremendous tests for a new docking systema system designed impact on world public opinion. For more than two jointly by engineers of the two nations to give future years, the United States had been publicizing its plans astronauts of both nations a common mechanism for for launching an artificial satellite as part of the 1957 locking their spacecraft together. For those who have International Geophysical Year. Now, with virtually no n had dreams of Earth-orbiting space stations supplied advance publicity, the Soviet Union appeared to have and manned by spacecraft from many nations, such a surpassed the United States in a single giant leap. standardized docking system is an essential first step. Soviet representatives had,infact, made passing Without a compatible docking system, each nation would mention that their government was pursuing investiga- be limited toits own independent activity during a tions to this end, but such information sounded no period when research and prAtlealapplicationsin alarms in the United States. Now, the resulting political Earth orbit are steadily increasing in value. For others, effects in the United States and in other countries were who have watched the independent progress of the two remarkable. Although the Soviet Union had made sub- great.spacefaring nations, the fact that such a mecha- st ntial progress since the 1917 Revolution, the argu- nism could be designed and tested jointly will be evi- rn nt that the Soviet system was better able than the dence in itself of a far greater accomplishmenta sig- American to provide developing nations with economic nificant increase in understanding between superpowers and technological, growth had proved unconvincing to that once waged an ideological war that seemed to much of the world. Now, in an era of Cold War, the (b) threaten the safety and security of the entire globe. oviets had scored a propaganda coup of major pro- portions. Beginnings in space. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet For people all over the world, the space successes of Union launched thefirstartificialearthsatellite.In the Soviet Union were viewed as symbolic of the overall Q. retrospect, the accomplishment seems a modest one technical and scientificlevel of the Soviet society. ,zs. Sputnik I operated for three weeks and stayed in orbit During the first few years, the Soviet accomplishments greatly enhanced their prestige and influence in the Canada's Alouette, were launched in1962 atop U S world. Their new image convinced many that they had rockets. at the very least equalled the United States. The mili- Despite a number of formal and informal approaches tary implications of the successful launches of great to Soviet officials in the first years of the space age, no payloads into Earth orbit were lost on few. The scientific agreement on-the nature of specific cooperative projects equipment, animals, and finally cosmonauts that orbited acceptable to both sides was reached until 1962, after the Earth all rode into space on missiles capable of the first orbital flight by John Glenn. Chairman Nikita carrying nuclear weapons. Khrushchev's congratulatory telegram included a state- In the United States, the Sputnik launch and. the ment concerning the desirability of cooperative effort following explosion of our own Vanguard rocket on the by our two nations in the exploration of outer space. launch pad brought a flurry of activity. Within a year, In response, NASA and other U.S. agencies provided Congress had created a new agency, the National Aero- specificproposalsforconcrete spaceprojectsthat nautics and Space Administration, to lead the civilian might be undertaken by the U.S. and USSR. Presi- space effort. dent Kennedy's letter to Khrushchev outlined these as Following Yuri .Gagarin's successful orbital flight on (1) establishment of an operational world weather satel- April 12, 1961, President John Kennedy asked his. ad- lite system through coordinated satellite launchings and visors to present him with a space program that would global data exchange, (2) exchange of spacecraft track- demonstrate American technological leadership and re- ing services; (3) mapping of Earth's magnetic field with gain our international prestige. Vice-President Lyndon each nation launching its own satellites equipped to Johnson, chairman of the National Space Council, passed share this task, (4) an invitation to the Soviet Union to the desired recommendations tothePresident, who provide a ground terminal as part of an international announced on May 25, 1961, an urgent national priority: program using U.S. communications satellites. to land a man on the Moon and to return him safely to In view of the extensive cooperation alreally under- Earth before the end of the decade. way between the United States and many other nations, the agreement signed by Anatoliy Blagonravov of the International cooperation. During the first years of Soviet Academy. of Sciences and HughL.Dryden, space activity, international cooperation in space was Deputy Administratorof NASA, in June 1962 represented endorsed by both the United States and the Soviet a very small step toward cooperation between the two Union. Because of the military implications of the ad- nations that were most active in space. vanced propulsion and guidance technology, some areas This first agreement on space cooperation between the booster development, for examplewere clearlynot United States and the ,Soviet Union provided for mutual suitedforintimate cooperationbetween the super- exchange of data from weather satellites, mapping of powers. the Earth's magnetic field through an exchange of re- In the realm of scientific research, however, NASA sults from independent satellite launches, and a com- quickly advertised its willingness to engage in coop- munications experiment using the U.S. satellite Echo II. erative projects with other nations, and a number of In 1965, stimulated by a ,Soviet suggestion, negotia- programs to launch sounding rockets and stnall satel- tors agreed on a plan to prepare a joint review of space lites were agreed to in the early 1960s. The first inter- biology and medicine, the first U.S.-Soviet cooperative nationalsatellites,theUnited