Medal, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

This medal commemorates the first international manned spaceflight mission. In July 1975, two manned spacecraft were launched into Earth orbit--one from Kazakhstan, the other from Florida. Their rendezvous in orbit fulfilled a 1972 agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States to participate in a joint venture in space. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project marked a brief thaw in the Cold War and the first time that the two rivals cooperated in a manned space mission. Engineering teams from both sides collaborated in the development of a docking module to link the spacecraft. Control centers in Moscow and Houston exercised joint duties through a cooperative exchange of tracking data and communications. The crews visited each other's spacecraft, shared meals and worked on various tasks during several days together in space. This commemorative medal depicts this historic international mission. On one side, the mission is presented from the Russian perspective; with the Soyuz spacecraft in the foreground, and the crew listed by name in Russian. On the reverse, the mission is depicted in English, and the Apollo spacecraft is most prominent.

The manufacturer, Medallic Art Company, donated this medal to the museum in 1976.