Russia: Veterans of the first Apollo–Soyuz Test Project meet on 40th anniversary

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the two commanders of the respective crews met in Moscow on Wednesday. Former Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and his erstwhile colleague American astronaut Thomas Stafford got together to celebrate the flight that marked the start of serious cooperation in space between Russia and the US. Stafford made his fourth and final flight as commander of the American Apollo spaceship, while Leonov, the first man to ever conduct a spacewalk, led the Soyuz team. The Russian cosmonaut spoke about the historic docking when he suggested that NASA astronauts drink vodka from tubes which were actually filled with Borsch soup. He also recounted a story when he spoke on the TV show ‘Good Morning America’ when he managed to compliment every blonde school bus driver in the US.