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Enjoy our Special Edition featuring Russian Ambassador to the USA Anatoly Antonov reading his own article "With the Apollo-Soyuz Handshake in Space, the Cold War Thawed a Little" specially for Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine READ THE ORIGINAL TEXT: https://www.airspacemag.com/space/apollo-soyuz-cold-war-thawed-little-180975321 The history of Russia-U.S. interaction in space has quite a few bright pages. And top honors go to the Apollo–Soyuz experimental flight that took place 45 years ago, from July 17 to 19, 1975. This mission was the first step in cooperation between Moscow and Washington to explore the boundless reaches of outer space. More importantly, it helped establish an atmosphere of true partnership between the two space superpowers, which persists today. Back then, the joint initiative epitomized the détente in relations between the U.S.S.R. and the United States that began as the 1960s turned into the 1970s. The orbital flight was designed to demonstrate that despite all political and ideological differences, the two nations could work together. It’s no exaggeration to say that the whole world—which had been on the brink of nuclear war during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis—looked forward to such a signal.