Deke Slayton

Oficiální znak mise Apollo–Sojuz: nápisy APOLLO a СОЮЗ kolem glóbu se spojenými loděmi.

One of the original "Mercury Seven" astronauts (1959). An irregular heartbeat kept him grounded for years and he ran NASA's astronaut office; he first reached space only on Apollo–Soyuz in 1975, at the age of 51.

A military pilot in World War II and later a test pilot. In 1959 he was chosen among the first seven astronauts, but an irregular heartbeat grounded him. As head of the astronaut office he decided the crews of Gemini and Apollo. After being restored to flight status he assigned himself to Apollo–Soyuz as docking module pilot — becoming the oldest person to fly in space at that time.

NationalityUSA

Spaceflights1

SPACEFLIGHTS

Apollo–Soyuz15 July 1975

Apollo–Soyuz (ASTP) was the first joint Soviet–American crewed flight, on 15–24 July 1975. The American Apollo docked with the Soviet Soyuz 19 and Tom Stafford shook hands with Alexei Leonov — the first international docking and a symbolic end to the space race.open article →

FACTS

•He was one of the original "Mercury Seven" astronauts (1959).

•A heart arrhythmia grounded him for many years.

•He first flew into space at the age of 51 — at the time the oldest person ever in space.

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