In the mid 1970s tensions between Cold War rivals USA and USSR had cooled enough that a remarkable microgravity rapproachment was possible. A Russian Soyuz capsule docked with an American Apollo spacecraft in orbit above Earth. The astronauts reached through the hatch and shook hands. The symbolism of the crafts’ tethering was all the more poignant, considering the Cold War had inspired the space race that developed the rockets.
The Apollo-Soyuz mission is considered by many to have marked the end of the space race and launched a new era of international collaboration on space projects. Americans travelled to the Russian Mir space station and ultimately the International Space Station (ISS) commenced in 1998, the product of American, Russian, European, Japanese and Candian space agencies.
"Space has a long history of bring adversaries together," says Sa'id Mosteshar, director of the London Institute of Space Policy and Law and its professor of International Space Law.
