The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (NASA SP-4209) - Comprehensive Official History of NASA's Work with the Soviet Union and Russia Leading to the Historic 1975 ASTP Mission

This official NASA history document - converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction - is a comprehensive and insightful account of the painstaking efforts of NASA to partner with the Soviet Union, starting in the Kennedy years and culminating in the successful 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Contents include: The Paine-Keldysh File * Chapter 1 - The Years Before * Origins of the Office for International Programs * First Efforts to Establish a Basis for Cooperation * Competition versus Cooperation: 1959-1962 * Chapter 2 - Dryden and Blagonravov * Khrushchev-Kennedy Letters: February-March 1962 * The First Dryden-Blagonravov Agreement - 1962 * The Kennedy Proposal for a Joint Moon Flight * The Dryden-Blagonravov Talks - 1964-1965 * Chapter 3 - Routes to Space Flight * The Challenge of Space Flight * Life Support Systems * Reentry Vehicles: Spheres vs. Blunt Bodies * Vostok and Mercury: First Flights Into Space * Voskhod and Gemini: Intermediate Step * Soyuz - Development of the Space Station; Apollo - Voyage to the Moon * The End of the Space Race? * Chapter 4 - Mission to Moscow * Steps Forward * Working the Problem * Chapter 5 - Proposal for a Test Flight * A New Proposal * Space Station I: Promises and Problems * Welcome to Houston * Meeting the Press * Soyuz 11: Triumph and Tragedy * After Apollo: What? * A Study Task Team * Defining the Docking Module * Chapter 6 - Forging a Partnership * Preparation in Houston * Round Three - Moscow * Issues and Answers * An International Docking System * Estimating the Costs of a Mission * Negotiations by Telephone * Designing the Interface * April In Moscow * Testing the Agreement * The Nixon-Kosygin Summit * Chapter 7 - Creating a Test Project * July in Houston * October in Moscow * Preliminary Systems Review (Stage 1) * Compatible Atmospheres * Thanksgiving in Houston * Preliminary Systems Review (Stage 2) * Years of Intense Activity * Chapter 8 - Apollo and Soyuz at Mid-Term * Mid-Term Review * A Tour of Soviet Space Facilities * Public Information Plans * A Report to Congress * Chapter 9 - Preparing for the Mission * The 1973 Paris Air Show * Rivals and Friends * Spacecraft Familiarization * Do You Speak Russian? * Studying in Star City * Testing Hardware * Developing Flight Procedures * Questions about Soyuz * The Watchdogs Concur * Soviet Worries About Apollo Minus X Thrusters * Final Round of Crew Training * Chapter 10 - Final Examinations * Reviewing Flight Readiness * Mission Operating Plans - Review * Guidance and Control - Review * Docking System - Review * Communications and Tracking - Review * Life Support and Crew Transfer - Review * Reporting on the FRR * Public Affairs Prepares for the Flight * New Worries * Reviewing Apollo Readiness * Countdown to Launch * Chapter 11 - Come Fly With Us * 15 July 1975 - Launch * 16 July - Chase * 17 July - Rendezvous * 18 July - Transfers * 19 July - Exercises * 20 July - Independent Activities * 21 July - Farewell * 22-23 July - Experiments * 24 July - Last Splash * Epilogue * Sources and Research Materials

The authors note: "This history is an official history only because it was sponsored by NASA. The authors were invited through a contract to record their version of the events that led to, shaped, and emerged from the joint flight. When we first met with Glynn S. Lunney, the American Technical Director for ASTP, we asked, "Why do you want to have a history written?" Lunney responded that he had never asked himself precisely that question but that he did desire to see preserved the subtlety of human interaction that he had observed during the first four years of the project. Lunney wanted a historian to see firsthand some of the personal interplay so that the flavor of the working sessions could be preserved along with the story that could be found in more conventional documents."