Most of us take it for granted today that American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts live and work together in Earth orbit. They've been doing it for years, first in the Shuttle-Mir program, and now on the International Space Station. This orbital cooperation has grown to include partners in the Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies, and will continue well into the next decade, as humanity learns about living off the home planet to prepare for longer journeys beyond Earth orbit.
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) would send NASA astronauts Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton and Vance Brand in an Apollo Command and Service Module to meet Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov in a Soyuz-19 capsule.
The launch of Apollo took place on July 15, 1975. The launch of Soyuz-19 took place on July 15, 1975. Apollo landed on July 24 and Soyuz on July 21. Apollo and Soyuz docked on 17 July.