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Two options were presented: Apollo docking with Salyut/Soyuz or Soyuz with Skylab/Apollo. Caldwell Johnson was taken aback by the Soviets’ eagerness to immediately pursue the development of a universal docking mechanism.
Concept Apollo/Soyuz. Credit Astronomy.com
Concept Soyuz/Skylab
Concept Apollo/Salyut
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On January 20th, 1971 in private negotiation, Low and Frutkin met with Keldysh and Feoktistov to discuss rendezvous and docking. NASA proposed developing compatible systems for Apollo and Soyuz rather than future spacecraft, aiming to give specialists something concrete on which to work.
Academician Aleksandr Vinogradov, left, examines a lunar rock from Apollo 12
At the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the Soviet and U.S. negotiators face one another in January 1971
Academician Keldysh, right, headed the delegations and signed the agreements
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Lunney and his colleagues were especially captivated by the descriptions of the Soyuz control systems provided by Shatalov and Beregovoy. While immersed in the U.S. space programs, the NASA representatives could only follow the U.S.-U.S.S.R. competition through reports in American aerospace publications. However, this opportunity allowed them to hear firsthand accounts of the systems from individuals who had operated and flown the Soyuz.
Evolution of Ring and Cone Docking System
New Soyuz Docking Mechanism
Signing the agreement: L to R; Johnson, Hardy, Krimer, Frutkin, and Gilruth
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In 1969, NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine saw an opportunity for a paradigm shift
in Soviet-American space relations. Given the United States’ clear lead in the race to the moon, he believed an offer of cooperation would not jeopardize the US lunar aspirations. Remarkably, the Soviet Union now had more to gain from such a partnership.
The Space Obelisk at the National Exhibition of Economic Achievements in Moscow
Replica of the Vostok and Launch Vehicle displayed at the National Exhibition of Economic Achievement
Sketches by W. Taub outlining Soviet and American spacecraft characteristics. Prepared in 1969
