Apollo-Soyuz Docking Ring

The Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975 was the first international space flight. Astronaut Tom Stafford served as the American Apollo Commander, while cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was Commander of the Russian Soyuz. The mission required two very dissimilar spacecraft – the Apollo and the Soyuz – to rendezvous and dock together in orbit. This required special docking rings to be designed for both spacecraft that would properly fit together. This is the actual flight backup docking unit for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission that would have been mated to the Soyuz spacecraft. (Flight-Ready Artifact)