Item #120, Message from Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev to President Gerald Ford Regarding the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Dictated by phone by 40 Min. 7/25/75 Uorontson p.m,Thure, Dear Mr. President: On the occasion of the successful accomplishment of the first ever joint flight and docking of the Soviet Spaceship Soyuz and the U.S. Apollo, I am sending you and the people of the United States of America, sincere congratulations on behalf of the Soviet people and on my personal behalf. Please extend our congratulations and best wishes to courageous U.S. Astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, Donald Slayton, and U.S. scientists, designers, specialists and workers who took part in the preparation for the fulfillment of the Soyuz-Apollo program. As a result of the flight of the Soyuz and Apollo Spaceships, their docking in the Earth orbit and mutual crew transfers tested and practiced, have been the compatible systems of the Spaceships developed for increasing the safety of man's flights into space, and also displays the possibility of joint work in space of representatives of different countries. Being an important milestone in cooperation between the USSR and the USA in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, the accomplished joint flight lays the foundation for the possible subsequent Soviet-U.S. projects in this field. The success of this outstanding experiment was insured by the faultless fulfillment by the Soviet and U.S. crews of the complex flight program. It was the result of close and efficient cooperation of scientists and specialists of our countries at all the stages of its preparation and fulfillment. The experiment carried out, constitutes a major scientific technical achievement paving new ways for further space exploration for the good of all mankind. The flight of the Soyuz and Apollo Spaceships is of historic significance as a symbol of the current process of easing of international tension and improvement of Soviet-U.S. relations on the basis of the principals of peaceful coexistence. At the same time it constitutes a practical contribution to the cause of further development of mutually beneficial cooperation between the USSR and USA in the interest of peoples of both countries in the interest of peace on Earth. FORD L. Brezhnev 4c 40 allhite House 1 2 3 4 WHD030 WAF249(1744) (1-170339G205)PD 07/24/75 1741 5 ICS IPMIIHA IISS 1.12 JUL 24 PM 7 42 6 7 IISS FM RCA 24 1741 8 PMS WASH DC 9 10 WUF5762 RML8564 MWR947 235 11 URIX CO SMS 318 12 13 XSSS MOSCOW 318/316 25 0105 URSSGOVO 14 ETATPRIORITE 15 16 PC 17 PREZIDENTU SOEDINENNYH SHTATOV AMERIKI 18 19 G-NU DJERALDU FORDU 20 BELYI DOM 21 22 WASHINGTON 23 24 UVAJAEMYI GOSPODIN PREZIDENT 9 25 PO SLUCHAIU USPESHNOGO ZAVERSHENIIA PERVOGO V ISTORII 26 SOVMESTNOGO POLETA I STYKOVXI SOVETSKOGO KOSMICHESKOGO GERALD LIBRARY R FORD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KORABLIA : SOIUZ : I AMERIKANSKOGO - : APOLLON : 8 SHLIU VAM I NARODU SOEDINENNYH SHTATOV AMERIKI ISKRENNIE 9 10 POZDRAVLENIIA oT IMENI 11 12 PG2 13 SOVETSKOGO NARODA I oT SEBIA LICHNO o PROSHU VAS TAKJE PEREDAT 14 15 NASHI POZDRAVLENIIA I NAILUCHSHIE POJELANIIA MUJESTVENNYM 16 AMERIKANSKIM KOSMONAVTAM TOMASU STAFFORDU 9 VENSU BRANDU , 17 DONALDU SLEITONU I AMERIKANSKIM UCHENYM 9 KONSTRUKTORAM 9 18 19 SPECIALISTAM I RABOCHIN e PRINIMAVSHIM UCHASTIE 20 V PODGOTOVKE I OSUSCESTVLENII PROGRAMMY : SO IUZ - APOLLON : 21 22 PG3 23 V REZULTATE POLETA KOSMICHESKIH KORABLEI : SOIUZ : I 24 25 : APOLLON " , OSUSCESTVLENIIA IH STYKOVKI NA OKOLOZEMNOI ORBITE 26 I VZAIMNOGO PEREHODA EKIPAJEI BYLI NA PRAKTIKE PROVERENY FORD & LIBRARY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SOVMESTIMYE SREDSTVA KORABLEI , RAZRABOTANNYE V CELIAH 3 POVYSHENIIA BEZOPASNOSTI POLETOV CHELOVEKA V KOSMOS 9 , 10 A TAKJE PRODEMONSTRIROVANA VOZMOJNOST SOVMESTNOI RABOTY V 11 KOSMOSE PREDSTAVITELEI 12 13 PG4 14 RAZNYH STRAN BUDUCHI VAJNOI VEHOI V SOTRUDNICHESTVE MEJDU SSSR 15 16 I SSHA V ISSLEDOVANII I ISPOLZOVANII KOSMICHESKOGO PROSTRANSTVA 17 18 V MIRNYH CELIAH PROVEDENNYI SOVMESTNYI POLET ZAKLADYVAET 19 FUNDAMENT DLIA VOZNOJNYH POSLEDUIUSCIH SOVETSKO - AMERIKANSKIH 20 21 RABOT V ETOI OBLASTI 22 USPEH ETOGO VYDAIUSCEGOSIA EKSPERIMENTA BYL OBESPECHEN 23 BEZUPRECHNYM VYPOLNENIEM SOVETSKIM I AMERIKANSKIM EKIPAJAMI 24 25 SLOJNOI 26 PG5 FORD GERALD LIBRARY 1 2 3 4 5 7 PROGRAMMY POLETA 9 IAVILSIA REZULTATOM TESNOGO I 8 CHETKOGO VZAIMODEISTVIIA UCHENYH I SPECIALISTOV NASHIH STRAN 9 10 NA VSEH ETAPAH EGO PODGOTOVKI I OSUSCESTVLENIIA 11 12 PROVEDENNYI EKSPERIMENT PREDSTAVLIAET SOBOI BOLSHOE NAUCHNO - 13 TEHNICHESKOE DOSTIJENIE , OTKRYVAIUSCEE NOVYE PUTI DLIA DALNEISHEGO 14 15 OSVOENIIA KOSMOSA NA BLAGO VSEGO CHELOVECHESTVA 16 POLET KORABLEI : SOIUZ : I 17 PG6 18 19 : APOLLON : IMEET ISTORICHESKOE 20 21 ZNACHENIE KAK SIMVOL PROISHODIASCEGO PROCESSA RAZRIADKI 22 MEJDUNARODNOI NAPRIAJENNOSTI I ULUCHSHENIIA SOVETSKO - 23 24 AMERIKANSKIH OTNOSHENII NA BAZE PRINCIPOV MIRNOGO SOSUSCESTVOVANIIA 25 V TO JE VREMIA ON PREDSTAVLIAET SOBOI PRAKTICHESKII VKLAD 26 V DELO DALNEISHEGO RAZVITIIA VZAIMOVYGODNOGO SOTRUDNICHESTVA FORD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MEJDU SSSR I SSHA V INTERESAH NARODOV OBEIH STRAN 9 8 9 PG7 10 V INTERESAH MIRA NA ZEMLE . 11 12 L . BREJNEV 13 MOSKVA 9 KREML 14 15 25 IIULIA 1975 GODA 16 COL 25 1975 17 18 NNN 19 NNNN 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 FORD & LIBRARY