Deke's in Spaaace!

Fifty years ago, two nations launched a mission that proved space could bring the world together.

On July 15, 1975, NASA launched the Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo‑Soyuz Test Project — the first international human spaceflight mission. The Apollo and Soyuz crews carried out… pic.twitter.com/mUBrBpkiOc

— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASAJohnson) July 15, 2026

I didn't even correct NASA about this happening 51 years ago (somebody else already had).

Anyway, here's Deke!

Because of the unique orbital dynamics, both launches were scheduled to take place in midafternoon local time on Tuesday, July 15. Midafternoon at Baikonur was the middle of the night in Florida, so we actually slept through the Soyuz 19 launch. 

Since our wake-up time was ten in the morning, I was already awake when John Young knocked on the door. It was unusual to be on the other end of that little bit of business—the first time since 1962 for me. 

Tom and Vance and I had a gentleman’s lunch of steak and eggs with John, Ron Evans, and Jack Lousma. We heard then that Soyuz 19 was safely in orbit and that everything was looking good for us. 

We got suited up, got in the truck, and drove out to the pad. I have to admit I felt pretty good walking across the swing arm to the spacecraft … what the hell, it was only thirteen years overdue. I never planned on being the world’s oldest rookie astronaut, but I wasn’t going to complain. 

We strapped in, Tom in the left couch, Vance in the middle, me on the right. The only hiccup in the countdown was an umbilical that got hung up. We didn’t want to have to stand down and recycle for a launch a couple of days later, because Soyuz 19 would have to come home. (That’s what that backup Soyuz was doing on the pad.) 

The umbilical problem cleared, and right on time we lit up and took off. 

I’d debriefed every Gemini and Apollo crew, so I wasn’t surprised by much that happened. The noise at liftoff was greater than I imagined it … we had eight engines running back there, and they got even louder as we moved through Max Q, then things began to smooth out. 

Whoppo! Shutdown was pretty abrupt. You went from being pushed back in your couch to hanging in your straps. We were in zero-G... 

The first order of business was to move the CSM away from the S-IVB stack, turn around, and come back for the docking module. Tom did the flying and did it perfectly. Then we got out of our suits and got down to work.

Glad he finally got up there.  Not bad for an old man...