Page "Vance D. Brand" Paragraph 10

Brand was launched on his first space flight on July 15, 1975, as Apollo command module pilot on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission.

This flight resulted in the historic meeting in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts.

Other crewmen on this nine-day Earth-orbital mission were Thomas Stafford, Apollo commander, Deke Slayton, Apollo docking module pilot ; cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, Soyuz commander ; and cosmonaut Valery Kubasov, Soyuz flight engineer.

The Soyuz spacecraft was launched at Baikonur Cosmodrome, and the Apollo was launched 7½ hours later at the Kennedy Space Center.

Two days later, the two spacecraft docked successfully.

The linkup tested a unique, new docking system and demonstrated international cooperation in space.

There were 44 hours of docked joint activities which included four crew transfers between the Apollo and the Soyuz.

Six records for docked and group flight were set on the mission and are recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

Apollo splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, on July 25, and was recovered by the, completing a 217-hour mission.

The mission almost ended in disaster when, during the final stages of the mission, the crew was exposed to near fatal amounts of nitrogen tetroxide gas.

The reaction control system had been inadvertently left on during descent, and the poisonous fumes were sucked into the capsule as it drew in outside air.

Brand briefly lost consciousness and all three crewmen required hospitalization in Hawaii for a number of weeks after landing.