There was a real Apollo 18

[bananas]

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/apollo/soyuz.html



Apollo-Soyuz

Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 Launched: July 15, 1975
Meeting in Space: July 17, 1975
Soyuz 19 Landed: July 21, 1975
Apollo 18 Splashed Down: July 24, 1975

Duration:

Apollo 18: 217 hours, 30 minutes
Soyuz 19: 143 hours, 31 minutes

Orbits: (Apollo 18) 136; (Soyuz 19) 96

Astronaut Crew:

Thomas P. Stafford
Vance D. Brand
Donald K. "Deke" Slayton

Cosmonaut Crew:

Alexei Leonov
Valeri Kubasov

This, the final flight of the Apollo spacecraft, was the first docking of spacecraft built by different nations and presaged the era of cooperation between the Russians and the Americans that is now such an essential part of our efforts to build a permanently occupied space station.

The American crew included three-flight veteran Thomas P. Stafford, rookie Vance Brand, and the last of the original seven Mercury astronauts to make it into orbit, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, whose heart murmur had previously kept him grounded. The Soviet crew included the first space walker, Alexei Leonov, and rookie Valeri Kubasov.

While this mission is generally remembered as a political/public relations venture, it resulted in some major technological advancements necessitated by the requirement to dock the two extremely variant spacecraft, neither of which had been built for the purpose, together.

The two spacecraft were launched within seven and a half hours of one another, and, three hours after they docked two days later, the Astronauts and Cosmonauts met in the middle ahd shook hands in orbit, exchanged flags and gifts (including the seeds of trees that were later planted in each others' countries) and conversed haltingly with one another in each other's native tongues.

It would be six long years before another American astronaut would fly in space, this time aboard the reusable Space Shuttle. The Apollo era, an era of the greatest achievements in mankind's history, had ended.

The Flight of Apollo-Soyuz http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/apollo/apsoyhist.html
Detailed Mission Description (KSC) http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/astp/astp.html

NASA History Homepage


Search NASA History

Updated November 12, 2008
Charles Redmond, Author
Steven J. Dick, NASA Chief Historian
Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
For further information E-mail [e-mail]

Here's a list of Apollo missions, that webpage above is linked from the end of the list: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/apollo/

[rsmith6621]

1. This line is wrong....

"It would be six long years before another American astronaut would fly in space, this time aboard the reusable Space Shuttle. The Apollo era, an era of the greatest achievements in mankind's history, had ended. "


What About SKYLAB????...They use Apollo spacecraft for that and it wasnt six years

[bananas]

2. Skylab was before Apollo 18

The Apollo and Skylab missions are listed here: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/apollo/

[brendan120678]

4. They were not referred to as "Apollo" missions...

they were Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4.
All three launched in 1973, and Skylab 4 crew splashdown was 1974.

The crew capsule wasn't officially an Apollo capsule, it was a Skylab capsule sitting on top of a Saturn rocket, just like the Apollo capsules.

[rexcat]

7. Not correct...

they used Apollo modules therefore they were "Apollo" missions but they were not moon missions. I was stationed at Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach at the time and the craft were referred to as Apollo modules. I got to go right next to one of the rockets prior to launch in a triage excercise so I know what I speak.

[RT Atlanta]

5. FWIW - Shuttle was originally scheduled to fly in 1978-9

Where the "flight gap" would've only been 3-4 years since ASTP. One of the first flights was originally scheduled to boost Skylab's orbit and keep it in space; however, the orbit decayed much more rapidly and Skylab re-entered in 1979. Fred Haise, of Apollo 13 and the Approach and Landing Tests, was scheduled to command the Skylab orbital boost mission. He retired before the Columbia flew, not flying in space again after Apollo 13.

More here: http://www.astronautix.com/flights/sts2a.htm

[FSogol]

3. Back when the US was capable of doing great things. Now small-minded people try to inflict their

tiny evil thoughts toward making the government as small as their corrupt souls.

[rexcat]

6. There were three Sky Lab missions...

I was stationed at Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach, FL at the time and we were part of Medical Operations for manned space flight. I was there for Apollo 17, the three Sky Lab missions and the Apollo-Soyuz mission (there were four flights for Sky Lab but the first mission was the lab itself).