Fifty years ago today, on July 19, 1975 (June 11, 1975 lunar calendar), American and Soviet astronauts met in space. "Apollo" and "Soyuz" in the upper left corner of the space docking, Leonov and Slayton at the time of docking On July 19, 1975, American and Soviet astronauts ended an unprecedented two-day international mission in space. "Apollo" and "Soyuz" began to separate and orbit each other. The Soviets will return to the ground tomorrow, and the Americans will return in 5 days. From these two spacecraft, each carrying 3 crew members was launched 4 days ago, and the docking mission began. The Soviet Union broke the usual secrecy and made a live television broadcast of the "Soyuz" launch. The two spaceships joined two days ago, 140 miles above the Atlantic Ocean. "Nice to meet you," the Soviet captain, Alexei-A-Leonov, said in English. The American captain, Thomas-P-Stafford, replied in Russian. The two captains shook hands through the hatch of the spaceship, and then the Americans entered the Soviet ship and exchanged gifts. Over the next two days, the six astronauts ate together. They walked from one spaceship to another and worked together on scientific experiments. Then they formed formations to observe the sun and the earth in two separate orbits. The docking test program, known as the "Apollo-Soyuz", was agreed upon at a meeting in Moscow three years ago. U.S. and Soviet officials say exploratory talks on future cooperation in space exploration have taken place. (~ 10/22)