Apollo Soyuz Mission 1975 NASA Film (Full 30 Mins)

On 17 July 1975, Thomas Stafford of the United States shook hands with Alexei Leonov of the Soviet Union in the docking ring of joined Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft. Thus ended five years of work and planning for the first joint space mission by the United States and the Soviet Union. Up until 1969, the U.S. and Soviet Union had been engaged in a race in space. The Soviet Union took an early lead, putting up the first man in space and the first spacewalker, but the ultimate prize, the Moon landing, went to the United States. While the space race took place, there were also cooperative space efforts, primarily the sharing of scientific data, and overtures between the U.S. and Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy had suggested joint space missions as early as 1963, and in 1967 and 1968 a pair of space treaties were signed by the two countries that would allow for joint rescue of astronauts/cosmonauts and the return of space objects to their country of origin. In fact, during the Apollo