Apollo-Soyuz was the first human spaceflight mission conducted jointly by two nations. A Russian Soyuz launched on July 15, 1975, followed by the U.S. Apollo launch on the same day. The two craft docked on July 17, and joint operations were conducted for two full days. Two manned spacecraft were launched into Earth orbit July 15 — one from Merritt Island, Florida, and the other from Central Asia.  This brought into reality the May 1972 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to work toward a common docking system for future generations of spacecraft. The nine-day Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission marked the first time that manned spacecraft of two nations met in space for joint engineering and scientific investigations. Both spacecraft landed safely and on schedule.  The Apollo-Soyuz mission paved the way for cooperation on today’s International Space Station, and Russian and U.S. leaders have since reaffirmed many times their commitment to continued collaboration in space, emphasizing its mutually beneficial nature.  The handshake in space brought about a thawing in the cold war.  --Stargazer Wilson