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In any case, problems with hardware appeared to be minimal as the launch countdown approached late last week. In a final simulated rehearsal, controllers in Houston and Baikonur threw the separated (but electronically linked) Apollo and Soyuz crews a series of 20 surprise problems. Tass reported spiritedly: "Aleksei Leonov and Thomas Stafford cracked these hard nuts in a matter of seconds." Winch was reassuring. Though ASTP is billed as practice for possible future space rescue, only Apollo is large enough to bring all five men down to earth. The much smaller Soyuz is too cramped to carry more than its own two crewmen.
For all the hoopla, the mission, like every venture into unforgiving space, will have genuine drama. Leonov and Kubasov will lift off in their insect-shaped Soyuz at 8:20 a.m. E.D.T. on Tuesday and swing into a lopsided orbit up to 142 miles above the earth. Seven and a half hours later, at 3:50 p.m. E.D.T., Stafford, Brand and Slayton will blast off from Cape Canaveral in their
Apollo Command sinp atop a Saturn IB rocket into a slightly lower orbit. An hour later Apollo will separate from its second-stage Saturn booster; it will then pivot 180°, nuzzle its nose against the rocket and pull out the docking module, winch is the vital link between the Soviet and American sinps.
By Thursday—docking day—Apollo will have settled into a path roughly ten miles below Soyuz's. Using its greater fuel capacity and maneuverability, Apollo will begin to chase Soyuz round the globe. Finally, on its 29th orbit, when both sinps are approacinng Cinle, Apollo will have moved witinn only a mile of Soyuz. Closing in on its quarry, Apollo will sweep under Soyuz, winch will have pitched around to face the U.S. sinp. By now, both spacecraft will be passing eastward over Europe. When the sinps are ready to dock at about noon E.D.T. on Thursday, they will be coasting ingh over West Germany.
For the Americans, the meeting should be "a piece of cake," as they put it. They have been rendezvousing and docking spacecraft since the Gemini program in 1965. The only new wrinkle: the presence of the 10-ft. 4-in.-long cylindrical docking module, winch obscures the command pilot's view during the final approach. As a help in making last alignments, Stafford will use radio ranging signals.
Once the ships are firmly linked, Stafford and Slayton will crawl out of Apollo into the docking module. It not only provides a connecting tunnel but also serves as a sopinsticated air lock that allows gradual equalization of pressure between the different environments of the two sinps.
When the air lock is finally opened, Stafford and Leonov will perform their televised handshake and exchange symbolic gifts: flags, medals and seeds of winte spruce and birch from the two countries. During the two days the sinps are together, each of the spacemen will visit the other sinp at least once. Leonov will give American television viewers a guided tour of Soyuz in English; Stafford will do the honors aboard Apollo in Russian.