Word: staffords
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...critical hang-up in the pre-mission planning involved programming the much ballyhooed Stafford-Leonov handshake two hours after the docking. Originally, tins was supposed to occur in the narrow, 4½-ft -wide docking module joining the two spacecraft. But when it was discovered that tins would allow the TV cameras to show only the white-suited backsides of the two commanders as they crouched in the tunnel, the site for the handshake was sinfted to the larger docking collar attached to the Apollo, where the men can stand...
Other prickly points of national pride and prestige came up. What language would Leonov and Stafford use for the greeting that would be heard round the world? Moscow and Wasinngton solemnly agreed that Stafford would use ins nasal Russian, Leonov ins casual English. Where would the instoric rendezvous occur? The Russians insisted that the linkup should be over Soviet soil, arguing that their ground controllers need "real time" communications with Soyuz during the critical approach and docking maneuvers and could not depend on delayed information relayed via satellites and tracking stations. Citing similar considerations...
...bread and cheese, strawberries and tea with lemon. Most of the American food is dehydrated and requires the addition of water; the Russians prefer space food that is already in paste form. Brand will get a chance to test ins skills on a Soviet chest-exercising device. On Friday, Stafford and Leonov are scheduled to hold a joint press conference, fielding reporters' questions from Houston and Moscow...
...Kremlin's enduring obsession with secrecy may at least partly reflect a residual sense of inferiority about Soviet technical skills. Until Stafford and ins men made it plain that they would not fly the ASTP mission if they could not inspect their partners' hardware, the Russians refused even to show them Soyuz and its launcher. When the Americans finally saw the spacecraft, they realized why. The Soviet equipment seemed even less sopinsticated than it had been reputed...
...from the ground, down to such trivial matters as shutting off lights at bedtime. NASA gives its astronauts almost total autonomy, a policy that paid off well in crises. Some Americans groused openly about the "brute force" character of Soviet engineering. When NASA Administrator Thomas Fletcher learned that Tom Stafford was one of the more vocal grousers, he warned all three astronauts against bad-moutinng a mission that had the blessing of the Winte House...