Fifty Years Later, Lessons from Apollo-Soyuz for Today

On July 17, 1975, a U.S. astronaut and Soviet cosmonaut shook hands in space during the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the culmination of years of diplomatic and technical work during the height of the Cold War to conduct a joint U.S.-Soviet mission. Fifty years after this historic mission, during an era of increasing tension between the United States and China, Apollo-Soyuz serves as a reminder of what is possible when leaders set their sights on cooperation amid competition. In the same way that the United States extended an olive branch to the Soviets, it should extend one to China by proposing a joint civil space initiative that improves the safety of human spaceflight. A carefully framed joint initiative could serve this modest, practical purpose, though it certainly could not bridge broader policy differences. It just might, however, begin to lessen tensions and build trust as Apollo-Soyuz did with the Soviets. It could also renew faith in the timeless belief that people can put aside their disagreements to take big steps for all humankind.

Since its establishment in 1958, two sections of NASA’s statutorily defined mission specifically address its relations to other countries’ space programs: ensuring that the United States is a leader in space as well as cooperating with other nations. Cooperation in space is motivated by several factors, including a belief—shared by successive U.S. presidents and Congresses—in the value of peaceful collaboration, the recognition that more could be achieved in space by sharing costs with other countries, and the hope that space collaboration was an opportunity to reduce geopolitical tensions.

In the early 1960s, the United States proposed a number of areas for space cooperation with the Soviet Union, including collaboration on weather satellites and mapping the Earth’s magnetic field. Eventually, the United States and Soviet Union conducted joint tests as part of a U.S. communications satellite program in 1964. President John F. Kennedy even publicly proposed conducting a crewed lunar mission in cooperation with the Soviet Union. In part inspired by a 1969 movie called Marooned, which portrayed the rescue of U.S. astronauts stranded in orbit with Soviet assistance, NASA began development of a shared docking system for their crewed spacecraft with the Soviets, laying the foundation for Apollo-Soyuz.

Today, the main challenge to U.S. leadership on Earth and in space no longer comes from the Soviet Union; it comes instead from China. Like with the Soviets, the United States is rightly concerned that China uses its civilian space technologies for military purposes, meaning that anything China learns through collaboration could help its military. There is also a practical barrier to cooperation with China—the Wolf Amendment, which places restrictions on how NASA can collaborate with China.

While there are good reasons to be apprehensive, astronaut safety is a key practical reason to consider civil space cooperation with China. Confirming that U.S. spacecraft can dock with Chinese ones, including with China’s space station, would provide a practical safety benefit for astronauts on the International Space Station, as well as future commercial space stations. Mindful of tech transfer concerns, this focus area would involve only technology and operational acumen that China already has. As both the United States and China look to establish a human presence on the Moon, the safety benefits derived from interoperability and shared rescue procedures will only increase. Beyond these practical benefits, collaboration on astronaut safety could help build trust—a building block for negotiations hoping to resolve other issues, such as trade. Perhaps the carrot of cooperation with NASA on astronaut safety could be used as a sweetener to help secure a trade deal with China.

Apollo-Soyuz should be a reminder of what is possible. In spite of geopolitical tensions—during some of the tensest moments of the Cold War, including the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis—the United States and Soviet Union managed to keep alive the possibility of peaceful cooperation in space. Though influenced by scientists on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the decision to cooperate with the Soviets was a political, as well as a practical, one. The pragmatic aspects of the Apollo-Soyuz mission aimed to reduce risks to human life by developing compatible docking systems, all of which paved the way for the joint operation of the International Space Station. The political facets reflected the desire to improve U.S.-Soviet relations and establish an opening for peaceful relations in an otherwise antagonistic environment.

While Apollo-Soyuz took place during détente, its foundations were laid as early as the late 1950s—the mission was neither a product of détente nor an independent effort to lessen geopolitical tensions. Instead, Apollo-Soyuz was the culmination of nearly two decades of work by officials, politicians, and scientists who believed peaceful collaboration in space was not only in the best interest of their nations but of all people. Reflecting on the Apollo-Soyuz mission, George Low, NASA administrator from 1969 to 1976, observed that, “We live in a rather dangerous world. Anything that we can do to make it a little less dangerous is worth doing.” As it was 50 years ago, this is perhaps the most compelling case for space cooperation with China. Though it may take a long time for such an effort to bear fruit, it is not too early to start.

Clayton Swope is the deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and a senior fellow in the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.