CREW OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE MISSION 'SOYUZ - APOLLO' 1975, AUTOGRAPHS Autographed photograph

28.5 × 37 cm In 1975, the two major space powers of the 20th century took part in a joint project that was a major event in USA - Soviet Union relations. The Soyuz-19 (Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov) and the Apollo-18 (Thomas Strafford, Donald Slayton, Vance Brand) with Soviet and American crews docked together on 15 July 1975. Leonov recalls: 'Even during the Cold War, there were people who proposed implementing a docking project for two spacecraft. What these people did showed global thinking, a great concern for the whole of humanity, and not personal interest. US President Richard Nixon showed initiative. He called Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, and proposed a project to dock two spacecraft in orbit so that cosmonauts and astronauts could work together and address the people of Earth with a single slogan: 'Guys, let's live in peace'.