Apollo-Soyuz
After decades of competing against each other, in the interest of better relations, the U.S. and the Soviet Union conducted a joint space mission in July 1975. It was called the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.
Basically, each country launched a spacecraft into orbit around the Earth. After some coordinating, they met in space and docked with each other. With the spacecrafts connected togther, the joint crews of five shook hands and spent about two days together before parting. A few days later they returned to Earth. This mission was designated officially as just Apollo, but since the previous mission was Apollo 17 and there were no other Apollo missions afterwards, NASA referred to the flight as Apollo 18.
Both space agencies learned some things about each other and about space missions. They learned that the style of each is different: the Soviet spacecraft was very much automated and controled remotely from Earth, while the U.S. spacecraft had mostly manual controls requiring advanced pilots to handle everything onboard. They also developed some techniques for docking, and laid the foundation for space stations: the Russian Muir and the American Skylab.
The pair of stamps at the top of this album page were issued to celebrate the project, showing the two spacecrafts. They were issued on July 15, 1975, the date both spacecrafts were launched. They assumed they would be successful and were right.
Note
I appreciate the significance of this space mission, but I don’t think these stamps of the Apollo-Soyuz mission are very attractive. Even as a kid I had no interest in owning them. They’re not well drawn and the colors are not very appealing. There’s also the awkwardness of the two spacecrafts joined together, unfettered and unconstrained by gravity. They look unsustainable and unnatural. Plus, they look like a pair of lovebugs mating, which can be an uncomfortable thing to observe for some.
Contains 10 spots: own 10 – 10 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed May 4, 2025
Stamp Details
The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
✓ |
1569 |
10c (jul 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1570 |
10c (jul 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1572 |
10c (sep 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1573 |
10c (sep 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1574 |
10c (sep 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1575 |
10c (sep 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1565 |
10c (jul 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1566 |
10c (jul 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1567 |
10c (jul 1975) |
|||
✓ |
1568 |
10c (jul 1975) |
Footnotes
Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.
