EMBRACE IN SPACE

THE DRAMATIC DOCKING OF U.S. AND RUSSIAN SHIPS REVIVES A PROMISING PARTNERSHIP

Twenty years ago, two young cold warriors--one a U.S. Air Force fighter jockey, the other a Soviet test pilot--watched from opposite sides of the world as their countries staged a high-tech media event. The brief political thaw known as detente was in full flow, and high overhead the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft were locked in an orbital tango. Their commanders reached through the spaceships' air locks for a symbolic handshake, amid much talk that the superpowers were going to move from the space race of the 1960s to a new era of space cooperation. Despite efforts in that direction, little availed,...

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