New Orleans (LPH 11) - Naval Cruise Book

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AST P After nine long days in space the American crew of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Brigadier General Thomas P. Stafford, Mr. Vance D. Brand and Mr. Donald K. Slayton, slowly make their descent into the Pacific Ocean, 24 July, 380 miles west of Hawaii. Calm seas and gentle winds belie the tension and excitement as crewmembers, standing on the flight deck of NEW ORLEANS, watched the three huge orange parachutes, which suddenly appeared some three miles from the ship. The command module slowly descended into the Pacific for a splashdown local time of 11:18. As the main chutes collapsed on impact, the first joint American- Soviet space mission comes to a close.

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' ' 1 , V1f'r',:?'::'V , .1 .,,.,,u........m-mn The Beginning Of The Last At Sea Spacecraft Recovery

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AST P began years before the actual mission with negotiations between NASA scientists and Soviet Space Agency personnel. As early as 1962, plans were in the making for the first in-space docking of two space capsules which occurred thirteen years later. AST P was formally provided for in the U.S.fU.S.S.R. Agreement Concerning Coopera- tion in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space signed by President Richard Nixon and Soviet Chairman Aleksey Kosygin in Moscow 24 May 1972. Liftoff for both spacecraft was 15 July 1975. The Russian Soyuz lifted off first from Central Asia at 8:30 AM QEDTJ, followed seven and a half hours later by the American Apollo from the Kennedy Space Center. Apollo met with Soyuz on 17 July and dock- ing took place approximately 12:12 PM CEDTJ, in space above Germany. During two days of docked operations, the crews visited each other's spacecraft in four different transfers through the docking module, performed joint scientific ex- periments and shared meals. The two spacecraft separated at 11:01 AM CEDTJ, 19 July. Soyuz de-orbited at 6:06 AM CEDTD and landed in the Soviet recovery area 21 July, approximately forty-two hours later. Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron SiX was embarked in NEW ORLEANS as the Primary helicopter support squadron for the miS- sion. HS-67S mission was two fold. Primarily, HS' 6 was responsible for dropping the swimmerS from Underwater Demolition Teams Eleven and Twelve in the water near the command module, Performing radio relay services and transporting camera crews to the scene. ml