The Reason This Space Docking Module Was Androgynous

From the creator

Adam Savage visits Smithsonian’s @airandspace Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar to examine a piece of Cold War space history: the APAS-75 (Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System) from the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). As Apollo curator Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony and conservator Elizabeth Beesley explain, this module -- designed during the Cold War -- served as a universal airlock and docking interface that not only bridged two different spacecraft, but two radically different engineering philosophies as well. From contrasting U.S. and Soviet machining styles to bilingual Russian/English cockpit labeling to the conservation challenges of deteriorating insulation, join Adam for an inside look at the hardware that made history's most famous handshake in space possible. What do you think of the "androgynous" solution? National Air and Space Museum: https://airandspace.si.edu/ Visit the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar Hazy Center: https://www.si.edu/museums/air-and-space-museum-udvar-hazy-center Visit the National Air and Space Museum's downtown museum: https://airandspace.si.edu/ Smithsonian Institution: https://www.si.edu/ More on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: https://www.nasa.gov/apollo-soyuz-test-project/ Preserving WWII’s Most Battle-Damaged Bomber: https://youtu.be/9BNKu8WBO8M Adam Savage Visits National Air and Space Museum's Restoration Hangar: https://youtu.be/WFSnf0MSAFc More videos from Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

Published 2026-10-01 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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