Thomas Stafford was a NASA astronaut who served as commander in the 1975 Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), the first joint mission between the U.S. and Soviet space programs.
- Died: March 18, 2024 (Who else died on March 18?)
- Details of death: Died at a retirement home in Satellite Beach, Florida, after being diagnosed with liver cancer at the age of 93.
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Thomas Stafford’s legacy
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Stafford graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force. He was working as a flight instructor when he was tapped to join NASA during the Project Gemini years. His first spaceflight came in 1965, on Gemini 6A, which broke new ground as the first crewed rendezvous with another craft, Gemini 7. Stafford practiced rendezvous again in 1966 on Gemini 9A, becoming one of NASA’s experts in the technique. Another experience with rendezvous came in 1969, when Stafford undocked the lunar module from the command module and then docked them back together. That experience would become a key part of his 1975 flight with the ASTP.
In July 1975, Stafford commanded a NASA crew of three as they rendezvoused in space with a two-man crew of Soviet cosmonauts, commanded by Alexei Leonov (1934–2019), who in 1965 had become the first human to conduct a spacewalk. The Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts launched from their home countries and came together in space, where Stafford and Leonov shared a handshake upon completing the rendezvous. The crews worked well together for several days, and Stafford and Leonov formed a friendship that lasted the rest of their lives. Leonov later helped Stafford adopt two Russian children, and Stafford spoke at Leonov’s funeral.
In addition to the personal bonds formed during the ASTP, the joint mission ushered in a new era of international cooperation in space. As the first ever international spaceflight, it paved the way for projects like the International Space Station.
ASTP was Stafford’s final spaceflight; soon after, he assumed command of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base. After his 1979 retirement, he served on several corporate boards and held an advisory position on several NASA projects. He wrote the 2002 autobiography “We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race,” taking its title from a sentence he learned in Russian to state it to his crew and the Soviet crew upon the successful rendezvous of the Apollo and Soyuz crafts.
Stafford on the ASTP flight
“It went great.” —from a 2022 interview for Space.com
Tributes to Thomas Stafford
Full obituary: The New York Times
